[Fishooked]

No more ****ing snow on Halloween.

GFY Mother Nature....the Ultimate Thunderc unt


http://www.nj.com/weather-guy/index....incart_m-rpt-2



Tropical Storm Sandy could slam N.J. as nor'easter with hurricane-force winds, forecasters say

If you thought last year’s crippling late October snowstorm was a handful, this year’s pre-Halloween horror show might just make your head spin.

State officials and weather forecasters are growing concerned that a powerful nor’easter, formed from Tropical Storm Sandy and an approaching cold front, could wreak havoc in the Garden State early next week, potentially causing extensive flooding as well as damage from hurricane-force winds.

Sandy formed in the southern Caribbean Monday, and forecasters say it is expected to track up the east coast in the coming days potentially making landfall in the New Jersey/Long Island area early on Monday or Tuesday.

“This storm has the potential to be very dangerous,” said Gary Szatkowski, the meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service’s Mount Holly office. “When you bring a tropical system into a situation like this, it’s like adding fuel to a fire. You can get some incredibly powerful storms and this one has the potential to be very strong.”

While Sandy is expected to lose it’s tropical characteristics by the time it arrives, Szatkowski said it has the potential to explode into a massive Nor’Easter, the effects of which New Jersey could start experiencing as early as Sunday.

“The fact that it wouldn’t be a hurricane might be misleading to people, but this could be very serious,” he said.

Szatkowski likened the situation to “the Perfect Storm,” a incredibly powerful Nor’easter that in 1991 absorbed Hurricane Grace, killed 13 people and caused upwards of $200 million in damage along the East Coast.

“The latest guidance has got a 946 millibar low off the coast of Cape Hatteras on Sunday,” said Henry Margusity, a senior meteorologist at Accuweather. “That would be a category 2 hurricane. If that’s true and it comes in like that. That’s a very bad situation. This would be a very destructive storm.”

The state Office of Emergency management is monitoring the situation closely and has started warning emergency management officers around the state of the potential threat.

“We’re still in the monitoring stage at this point. Every day we’re going to look at it and we’ll ramp up efforts as needed,” said Mary Goepfert, spokesperson for the state OEM.

Szatkowski was quick to point out, however, that there is a considerable amount of uncertainty with how the scenario will play out. Some forecast models show Sandy getting kicked out to sea, making the impacts on New Jersey fairly minimal.

Regardless, the storm needs to be monitored closely in the coming days.

“Remember that the forecast maps are guidance, not gospel. The storm center could easily track closer to the coast or further out to sea,” Szatkowski wrote in a briefing package issued today. “The takeaway message is that our region could be close to the path of a very dangerous storm.”