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.

Comments

Amazon

[GeneralTurgidson]

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

Wall St. Closed

[necro81]

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.

Re:Wall St. Closed

[Dupple]

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/

Re:Wall St. Closed

[dkleinsc]

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

Re:Wall St. Closed

[EvilSS]

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.

Re:Uhhh.... This is it?

[MickyTheIdiot]

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

Sometimes they even show up too early.

Ollie Williams reports

[dkleinsc]

It's raining sideways!

Prepared

[areusche]

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!

Re:Prepared

[Anonymous Coward]

a 24 pack of Corona.

Store already sold out of bottled water, huh?

Re:Prepared

[Anonymous Coward]

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

In New York City

[sticky.pirate]

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.

No work?

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

See what happens?

[gmuslera]

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

Re:See what happens?

[slashmydots]

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.

Re:See what happens?

[bws111]

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.

If you're working from home...

[arcite]

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

cause and effect

[tverbeek]

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.

Snowfall

[CaroKann]

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?

Re:Technology zilch compared to nature

[Daetrin]

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.

Re:Don't PANIC!

[PopeRatzo]

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.

Utter CHAOS in Upstate New York Already!

[damn_registrars]

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.