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Hurricane Sandy Nears East Coast

An anonymous reader writes "Scientists have been following and projecting Sandy's path with all the tools at their disposal: ocean buoys, radar and satellite imagery, and computer modeling. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also gathers information from special reconnaissance aircraft, which fly over hurricanes and can drop instruments into them to measure wind speeds, air pressure, temperature, and altitude. The latest data gathered on Hurricane Sandy point to an unprecedented and mighty tempest, scientists say." A couple of our East Coast offices are closed today and people have been told to work from home. Please share your storm stories, and updates while you still have internet access.

46 of 281 comments (clear)

  1. Amazon by GeneralTurgidson · · Score: 5, Funny

    I'm sure it will somehow take AWS down :)

  2. Wall St. Closed by necro81 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Interesting factoid I heard on my way into work: all the major banks and trading centers in New York City are closed today in anticipation. The last time that happened due to weather was for Hurricane Gloria back in 1985. Given the fact that Wall St. is just a few blocks from the water on three sides, and all of about 5 feet above sea level (depending on the tides), I'm surprised it isn't more frequent than that.

    1. Re:Wall St. Closed by Dupple · · Score: 5, Informative

      Wall Street might be closed but the Wall Street Journal is open however. Both they and the NYT have removed their pay walls for the duration of the storm

      http://www.poynter.org/latest-news/mediawire/193261/new-york-times-to-suspend-paywall-for-hurricane-sandy/

      --
      Watch those corners
    2. Re:Wall St. Closed by dkleinsc · · Score: 5, Funny

      In unrelated news, the crime rate in New York is down dramatically today, as the number of frauds committed dropped dramatically.

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    3. Re:Wall St. Closed by Miamicanes · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Exactly. Imagine the mess South Florida would have if a freak winter storm dumped 2 inches of real mid-afternoon snow on downtown Miami and the surrounding 3 counties, and it kept coming down all night so that we woke up the next morning to a city where every road was impassable to anything less than a SUV or truck, seriously dangerous regardless, and every vehicle that was outside overnight had ice crusted over the windshield wipers. We'd have people getting electrocuted trying to melt ice on the windshield with blow dryers (until the weight of the ice caused the power lines to fall down), and I shudder to imagine the carnage on I-95 and 836 when drivers who can't even avoid accidents during afternoon rainstorms suddenly had to deal with ICE.

      A category 1 hurricane making landfall in South Florida is like a "Snow Day" in Cleveland or Buffalo -- work from home today, limp and tipetoe around tomorrow, life as normal on day 3. An afternoon snowstorm that persists into the night would shut down South Florida for almost a week, and probably cause more deaths than a landfalling hurricane.

    4. Re:Wall St. Closed by EvilSS · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I don't have to imagine that. A little farther north than Miami, but I remember Christmas of, I believe it was 1989, we had an inch of ice followed by about two inches of snow in Jacksonville, FL. Entire city had to shut down and people were stranded for up to a week because all the bridges had to be closed. There was nothing the road department could do. They didn't have the equipment to deal with it. Of course as a kid, I thought it was awesome.

      --
      I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
  3. Re:Uhhh.... This is it? by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It doesn't take long for the second guessers to arrive, does it?

    Sometimes they even show up too early.

  4. Ollie Williams reports by dkleinsc · · Score: 5, Funny
    --
    I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
  5. Prepared by areusche · · Score: 5, Funny

    Room mates got a little nutty with the disaster preparedness. I took it a step further and bought a cooler, bag of ice, and a 24 pack of Corona. Bring it Sandy!

    1. Re:Prepared by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      a 24 pack of Corona.

      Store already sold out of bottled water, huh?

    2. Re:Prepared by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yes, all they have is canned water (aka Bud Light)

    3. Re:Prepared by cffrost · · Score: 3, Insightful

      a 24 pack of Corona

      Granted, Corona is pretty reliable, but aren't cyanide capsules a more humane way of dispatching oneself?

      --
      Thank you, Edward Snowden.

      "Arguments from authority are worthless." —Carl Sagan
  6. Technology zilch compared to nature by jkrise · · Score: 3, Insightful

    all the tools at their disposal: ocean buoys, radar and satellite imagery, and computer modeling.

    At times like these, the only technology is that which helps in mass exodus, plain and simple values like sharing and caring; and them coming back to pick up the pieces all over again.

    --
    If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
    1. Re:Technology zilch compared to nature by Daetrin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Really? So where do you propose we should be moving everyone that is at zero risk from hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, tornadoes, floods, wildfires, and any other natural disasters i'm forgetting about right now?

      I don't know about the rest of the world, but in North America we'd pretty much have to move the entire population of Mexico, the US and southern Canada up into the Canadian Shield. Trying to move close to half a billion people into north-east Canada would be a logistics and economic nightmare, and i'm pretty sure the kinds of moves that would be required in other parts of the world would be equally drastic.

      Realistically, if we don't want to pack all of humanity into tiny fractions of the earth's surface, we have to accept that almost everywhere people live is going to be subject to the occasional natural disaster. Yes, we should avoid the _worst_ areas and/or have contingency plans for those spots, but we're not going to be able to avoid everything.

      --
      This Space Intentionally Left Blank
  7. and the band played on. by rickb928 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Since most of my family is up in that part of the nation, thru are getting the for measure of fright. but for the NY and Maryland regions, this is more about the water. Manhattan will be in a position similar to NO, except no river, just storm surge, and not as many pumps.

    And sustained wind.

    --
    deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
    1. Re:and the band played on. by Alien+Being · · Score: 3, Funny

      I wish I knew. Apparently it's quite insightful.

  8. In New York City by sticky.pirate · · Score: 5, Informative

    My office has "strongly advised" everyone to work from home, and the subway and buses have been shut down since 7pm Sunday evening. Right now (8:30am Monday) we've got some small wind gusts and scattered rain.

  9. No work? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I live in south Alabama, we get plenty of hurricanes. I have to drive across Mobile Bay in order to get to work. Unless there is over 100mph winds, I have to go to work. I work in an office, punching buttons on a computer. The company that I work for has a main office in the effected area of this storm, and although the storm is still waaaay the fuck out in the Atlantic ocean (yes, it's waaay the fuck out since it's only 85mph winds), we get word that the main office is closing Monday (we got word on this Friday). I have never understood the mindset behind who I work for. I think a better question would be, "What is considered dangerous-enough weather to close an office?" Because here recently I had to drive across 7 miles of open water in over 100mph gusts, and many roads were closed due to flooding during hurricane Isaac.

    1. Re:No work? by Lieutenant_Dan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I hear you. The elements that you have to face is different than what senior management is willing to face. Two sets of rules. They don't mind putting you in harm's way while they spend the day at home watching Sportcenter.

      Can't ask your manager for remote access to your terminal and/or tools?

      --
      Wearing pants should always be optional.
  10. Re:divine punishment by SJHillman · · Score: 4, Funny

    No, we're being rewarded by having very mild storms compared to many of the other planets in our solar system.

  11. Re:divine punishment by Coisiche · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Well, it could be spun for or against either candidate.

    That's the problem with self-styled religious oracles claiming omens, it's always down to their personal agenda and there's nothing divine about that. The simple truth is that shit happens and the universe is indifferent.

  12. See what happens? by gmuslera · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Started as a minor storm but the press have blown it out of all proportion. Now is a big one.

    1. Re:See what happens? by cffrost · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well, all that hot air can evaporate a lot of water.

      --
      Thank you, Edward Snowden.

      "Arguments from authority are worthless." —Carl Sagan
    2. Re:See what happens? by slashmydots · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Amen to that! Any news agency with a presence in New York (all of them) turn it into the end of the world. The last time New York had a snow storm, CNN covered it like it was the black death. Meanwhile, Wisconsin got slightly more snow than they did and nobody gave a shit. Seriously, we were out shopping and driving and tailgating Packer games like it was normal weather, seeing as how it was. This is a class 1 hurricane. Time to un-bundle their undees and report on something useful and just pack a goddam umbrella.

    3. Re:See what happens? by deains · · Score: 4, Interesting

      It's the same everywhere really. Not a single snowflake can fall on Greater London without half the British press running a story about it, meanwhile in the North of England and Scotland, it could be 10 feet of snow and the media wouldn't even blink an eye. It's all about perspective, and the world experience of a journalist stuck working in a dingy skyscraper all day is very limited.

    4. Re:See what happens? by bws111 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes, it is 'only' a category one hurricane. That is going to cover ALL of Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Massachusettes, and parts of Virginia, Kentucky, West Virginia, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine with at least tropical storm force winds.

      Do you realize how many people live in that area? And, OK, it is 'only' a Category 1 storm, so the most likely effects (away from the coast) is power outages. Except that when the entire mid-Atantic and Northeast regions are covered, there is no help available from neighboring states.

      And, oh yeah, the storm surge at NYC is supposed to be 'only' 8 to 11 feet - which has happened never before. Since much of NYCs infrastructure is underground (including, of course, the subways), this is a big deal, regardless of the category of the storm or what similar storms have done elsewhere.

    5. Re:See what happens? by kiwimate · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Thanks for injecting some common sense. Slashdotters usually like to sneer at the masses and call it "common sense", but in this case common sense means being prepared.

      The sheer extent of the storm will mean a massive impact. Emergency responders can only work as fast as they can work. The expected number of power outages will mean that linesmen just can't fix them all in a timely manner.

      Philadelphia International Airport has shut down. PHL is the 12th busiest airport in the world. That's a simply huge impact considering the number of people who would ordinarily pass through the area on a given weekday, and the financial losses. It's not a decision they'd make lightly (and an airport has their own very sophisticated weather monitoring and analysis stations).

      Margate, NJ, was already flooded this morning, and the storm has barely even started. It's both massive and slow moving, so it'll be hanging around for ages as it's dumping rain on us.

      Here's Red Hook, Brooklyn, and that's just the beginning.

      Here's more, courtesy of NY Times. They've opened their paywall. Scroll down and have a look at the pictures and remember it's barely started yet.

    6. Re:See what happens? by bws111 · · Score: 3, Informative

      And since you live on a tropical island with an average of 28 storms a year, you probably have very few large trees that will fall over (on power lines, houses, and roads) or have limbs that will fall off. How would your tropical island fare if suddenly two feet of snow fell on it? Happens all the time here.

      And here's a little geography lesson: the people expected to be impacted from this storm are not 'on the coast' - they are hundeds of miles inland.

  13. Don't PANIC! by arcite · · Score: 4, Funny

    God is just visiting New York to cast his early voting ballot.

    1. Re:Don't PANIC! by eternaldoctorwho · · Score: 3, Funny

      God dammit, Towelie, you're the worst character ever.

    2. Re:Don't PANIC! by mcgrew · · Score: 3, Funny

      Don't panic, it's HHGTG, not South Park.

    3. Re:Don't PANIC! by gameboyhippo · · Score: 3, Interesting

      We all know this is a sneaky plot from the Romney camp to disenfranchise liberal voters by sending a massive 1000 mile storm in their path. Huff Post and Daily KOS told me so!

      In all seriousness, if a storm does do significant damage to an area right before/at an election, what do we do? Is this a constitutional crises?

    4. Re:Don't PANIC! by PopeRatzo · · Score: 5, Funny

      We all know this is a sneaky plot from the Romney camp to disenfranchise liberal voters by sending a massive 1000 mile storm in their path. Huff Post and Daily KOS told me so!

      I realize you're making a joke, but do you realize that at least one right-wing radio talking head is accusing President Obama of "seeding" Hurricane Sandy using (you knew it was coming, didn't you) HAARP?

      I'm not going to promote this turd, so you can find out who's making this accusation yourself if you are so inclined.

      So, if you're going to make a sarcastic comment about someone probably accusing someone of a plot to disenfranchise the electorate, you better make sure that someone on your side hasn't already done it.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    5. Re:Don't PANIC! by SternisheFan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Thanks for your 'voice of reason' post. 'Sandy' has already been the cause of death for over 60 people, so far. This storm is no joke, and to hear how it's being "politicized" is a shame.

    6. Re:Don't PANIC! by PopeRatzo · · Score: 4, Informative

      And I'm sure I can find at least one person on the left who has made the same claim about Romney

      OK, please do. Find someone on "the left" with a national profile who has said this.

      I'll wait here.

      See, this "both sides do it" equivalency is false. It's always been false.

      Can we just agree to ignore the crazy people, instead of trying to claim the other side is crazier or made crazy claims first? Please?

      No, we cannot ignore the crazy people, because voters on one side of the political spectrum are electing them to office in large numbers.

      It makes it harder to ignore someone when they are a member of the House of Representatives and sitting on a major committee.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    7. Re:Don't PANIC! by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Interesting

      To make the joke less funny, since I have to explain it, the reason I chose Romney as the supposed cause of the storm and cries of disenfranchisement coming from the left is that it is more common to hear the left make arguments that the right somehow prevents the left from voting rather than the other way around. I'm not saying if they're correct or incorrect in their assessment, but they do make that complaint more.

      I want to point out just how intellectually dishonest and morally questionable the very common argument that gameboyhippo is making actually is.

      When you have voters being disenfranchised, these people in the "center" who are saying "Oh look, the people being disenfranchised are complaining about being disenfranchised. They're such crybabies" become a double-insult to those people. These are not hypotheticals. There is no "question" about whether there are organized attempts at voter suppression by the Right. There are people, today, in this country who are being prevented from voting in a carefully planned and executed strategy. People who are being registered to vote by Nathan Sproul for the Republican Party who are then having the addresses on their registration form changed so that when they show up to vote they will be required to cast a provisional ballot (which will not be counted). Hundreds of voter registration forms showing up in dumpsters. People in states where the Supreme Court said there can be no voter ID requirement being told that they will go to jail if they try to vote without an ID. Official government notices going to potentially Democratic voters from Republican government officials telling them to vote on November 8 when the election is on November 6.

      And you're joking about how these people being disenfranchised are a bunch of whiners.

      I do assume that you have "a side". You are on the side of the kind of civic cynicism that is poisonous to a society. Whether you meant to or not, you endorse a kind of zombie conventional wisdom that is hurting people. Not hypothetical people, but actual human beings.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
  14. Re:divine punishment by JustOK · · Score: 3, Funny

    What's the weather like on Kolob?

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    rewriting history since 2109
  15. If you're working from home... by arcite · · Score: 5, Funny

    Then why are you posting on slashdot? Back to the grindstone with you!

  16. cause and effect by tverbeek · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It isn't so much a religious omen as a lesson in scientific cause and effect. Neither of the top two presidential candidates has been talking much lately about what's causing this sort of thing, but one of them (Romney) is promising not to do anything about it. If you can make it to the polls, keep that in mind.

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    http://alternatives.rzero.com/
  17. Could be worse, HMS Bounty by OffTheLip · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Abandoning ship into 25 foot lifeboats to battle monster seas is bad for the crew and hard work for the Coast Guard tasked with their safety. The graveyard of the Atlantic is set to claim another prize. http://www.foxnews.com/weather/2012/10/29/coast-guard-monitoring-tall-ship-in-distress-off-north-carolina-with-17-aboard/

    1. Re:Could be worse, HMS Bounty by colfer · · Score: 4, Informative

      Docked in port is often more dangerous, to the ship at least. This storm came in on a wide hook so it would have been hard to pick a time to leave, assuming they were ready to go when the first warnings came.

  18. Snowfall by CaroKann · · Score: 5, Interesting

    One interesting aspect about this storm is the snowfall. Snowfall is expected in WV and KY. Moisture from the storm is wrapping around into cold air in the higher elevations. A hurricane producing snow, how unusual! http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCPAT3+shtml/291149.shtml?

  19. Super hyped???? by PortHaven · · Score: 4, Informative

    In 1992, when I was in Connecticut, they hyped a nor'easter. It was to be the worst thing since Hurricane Gloria. It came, it fizzled, it was a little more windy than normal. But seriously, didn't even make me blink. It was hyped the same way Sandy is being hyped.

    Two weeks later another nor'easter approached. The embarrassed media downplayed it. This second storm turned out to be everything the first one wasn't. My school was evacuated. Boats were floating down the road. The pier was 18" under water.

    ***

    My fear is this will fizzle. And then, in a month or so we'll have another storm, and that will be the one that devestates.

  20. In N.Y., tidal surge is the concern. by SternisheFan · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Where I am in Long Island, N.Y. we're predicted to get only 3" of rain from Sandy. The real issue here is the storm's 'tidal surge' to occur Monday evening throughout Tuesday. 75mph gusts, coupled with the full moon's high tide effect will be pushing ocean waves north over the entire southern edge of L.I., with an 11.5 foot surge expected around 9pm Monday night Evacuations in N.Y.C. and everyone south of Sunrise Highway (27) in L.I.'s Nassau County.

    For a storm like this, there's nowhere for this water to go but to get pushed into the 'bowl' of Jamaica Bay and into N.Y.C., and to flood the southern parts of L.I. Also, since L.I. is basically one long 'beach' of sand with 6-10 inches of dirt on it, tree's roots grow spreading outward, not downward to anchor properly into the ground. With water-logged soil, the expected high winds are going to topple trees with ease, and L.I.'s power company is expecting outages to last for up to a week until all repairs are made. It's going to be one heck of a ride!

  21. Utter CHAOS in Upstate New York Already! by damn_registrars · · Score: 5, Funny

    The storm must have skipped the seaboard and struck here already. Cars are flying off the road. Buildings and roads are crumbling. People are begging for money on the street while others are shouting religious mantras to nobody in particular. Cell phone service is spotty and gas prices are climbing.

    Oh, wait. It's just Monday. This happens every Monday here. And Tuesday, and Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Move along, nothing to see here.

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
  22. The Beginning of the End by notaspy · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wednesday, October 31, 2012. RIP USA. In hindsight, it all should have been obvious three days earlier. That would have been early enough to have prevented it - the shockingly abrupt and utter destruction of the Unites States of America.

    On Sunday (that innocent Sunday just before the end of our world), the events on opposite sides of the country seemed natural, coincidental. The Frankenstorm that Sandy was about to become was just another prediction made by a bunch of self-anointed experts. No biggie, New Jersey could use a good scrubbing. A couple. And the earthquake off Alaska was only about as big as the one we had here in New England last week. Meh. The tsunami that hit Hawaii was measured at nearly half an inch. Not even worth a âoemeh.â

    Most people watching the northeast were anticipating a couple days of storm, a week of cleanup, a bunch of bitching about damage, but employment would have went up in a hurry with all the rebuilding and repairs. One of the Presidential canditates would have made it a central theme of his last campaign week â" The Reconstruction of America. The country would come together, mostly, in a national unity of rebuilding. Spirits and the economy would have soared, the elections turning into a catastrophe for one of the major political parties. But none of that happened, it's just the ravings of a lunatic refugee. A refugee with a goatee. Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha!!!!! Sorry, I've had a rough three days.

    The Chinese have been doing large-scale meteorological experiments for many years. They were open about their efforts to control the weather for the 2012 Olympics in the Beijing area. There have been articles published in legal and even mass-market periodicals about the scientific, legal and ethical implications of such research have been debated. It wasn't something unknown to the general public. On the other hand, nobody except a few graduate professors and pharmaceutical chemists noticed the paper in the April issue of Chem. Phys. Acta. entitled âoeRacemization of Novel Isotopes of Mercaptothionitrite.â

    The Alaska earthquake (5.5 Richters) on Sunday caused a mass evacuation of Waikiki and other populated regions of the islands. An overabundance of caution maybe, or maybe a proper abundance of caution. Who knows? It's a statistical thing, so I'll get back to you every Sigma, just like with bosons. How many you want? Three? Four? Five? How much time you got? I got lotsa Sigmas.

    The Vancouver quake on Monday, however, took people by surprise. It was huge, over 9 R, one of the largest quakes ever recorded. Plus, it was a diagonal slip-shear transfer fault. Fortunately, these are extremely rare, and nearly always found in the deep ocean. A series of tsunamis emanating from the quake bounced around the Puget Sound, creating dozens of transitory superharmonic tsunamis over 100 feet high that pretty much created a brand new coastline, mostly devoid of structure or vegetation underneath all the wreckage. But that's getting ahead.

    Nobody paid much attention either to a page 6 story from a supermarket tabloid about a school in India that mysteriously disappeared. The magazine had actually come out in June and was really only a paragraph without many details beyond name of the local region. But somebody did pay attention, and using Google Maps found that in every recent satellite photo of the named region, there was a nearly circular region that was blurred out. In archived photos, however, there was a small town (~75,000 folks) at the location. Somebody pointed this out on Slashdot, and several experts quickly came on to say that they didn't think the photos had been edited. The pictures showed what was actually there. Well, that did it, suddenly a thousand geeks, shut-ins, hackers and conspiracy theorists had a race/joint project/contest, and the story was quickly put together.

    A former pharmaceutical chemist from Bangalore had retired inland, and was running an informal school for recent college gr

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    hi!