On the Edge of the Storm

A super storm is a subjective term for any storm that is extremely and unusually destructive. Yesterday I drove back to the Upper Peninsula, skirting the edge of the storm. The outer bands of the storm hovered over the lower peninsula. As I approached the Mackinac Bridge, the winds seemed to intensify. They allowed us to drive over the five mile bridge, but larger vehicles were restricted to just 20 miles per hour.

Here is a NASA image of Sandy.

Below are a few NOAA maps of the current storm conditions.  The first map shows the wind advisories for today.

The following image shows the precipitation forecast for today.

The following image shows the tropical wind probabilities that are expected today.

Some of the records for this storm include:
--The storm path moved from east to west for what some say may be the first time ever.  This path, along with the fact that yesterday was a full moon (which also increases the tidal surge) increased the storm surge to a record high water level of 13.88 feet in New Your City breaking the previous official record of 10.02 feet.
--Waves in New Jersey were measured at a record 32.5 feet.
-- Sandy’s central pressure bottomed out at 940 millibars, setting a record for the lowest pressure of an Atlantic storm north of Cape Hatteras, N.C.
-- Data is still being compiled, but this storm may have caused a record number of power outages.  It is thought that over 7 million people have lost power thus far.  More customers could loose power today.

Here is a photo I took while driving over the bridge.

I stopped along US 2 and took a few shots looking south over Lake Michigan.  The clouds are the very outer bands of Hurricane Sandy.

 

By the time I arrived home in Grand Marais, I was able to take a couple pictures of the outer storm bands that were lit up at sunset.

 

 

 

Data sources for Sandy statistics:  NOAA, NBC Today show broadcast.