Sandy Continued....

[keoniphoenix]

This storm is terrible as its not even on shore and there's major flooding in much of the Mid Atlantic from the heavy rains. I can only imagine what tomorrow will be like. Consolidated Edison will probably have to cut its power to Manhattan in order save it electrical network from being completely fried by indundation from salt water. I wouldn't

Comments

[nexrad]

You too with zombies? (Loop's been into them lately... beh, so cliche). ;-)

While New York City is receiving much focus, I think some of the worst tidal impacts will be outside of the city itself. Locations from Maryland through New Jersey, Long Island, and Connecticut will likely see the surge coupled with severe wave action resulting in particularly nasty swaths of flooding - and damage - to coastal communities. In the city itself, I'd expect a less violent but more insidious sort of flood event that will be highly disruptive, no doubt. Of note, many tidal gauges from Virginia north through Western Long Island are already at moderate flood stage. Needless to say, coastal flooding is guaranteed.

As for Buffalo, I'd be surprised to see snowfall or anything leading to accumulation. The reason is that the arctic air mass is less oriented to the north and is actually being shunted out of the Midwest and into the Southeast. This is thanks to Sandy's power, with the storm actually bending the jet stream. While it well may be cooler there, nighttime temps should stay within a degree or two of 40. But that's apt good for the power grids - wet heavy snow with high winds would be particularly nasty.

[keoniphoenix]

The worst storm I'd ever been in was Tropical Storm Nora in 1997 where it wasn't all that particularly windy but it rained a lot. The downpour was the heaviest I'd ever experienced in Arizona in a non-monsoonal storm. I distinctly remember a house down the street being flooded by poor drainage through what was suppose to be a small diversion channel for surface runoff. It was hardly up to the task of merely channeling the water off Union Hills Drive and the nearby surface streets in the neighborhood I grew up in, as it over flowed its channel with ease and literally flowed through the house next door. It is the only runoff channel that wasn't properly channelized with concrete (remains exposed and uneven dirt) compared to the others nearby. Its also not connected to the storm sewer network because originally it drained into open desert but then was blocked by new development that required a second channel to be built that eventually drains to a retention area where it can eventually seep into the ground as it evaporates.

I've provided a map to what I refer too.

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=204578564926304424310.0004cd343d661fb393eb6&msa=0&ll=33.644689,-111.99317&spn=0.002005,0.00284

[nexrad]

Florida's drainage system is similar, except that in some places the roads are the drainage features instead of canals or runoffs. It'll get too lengthy if I recount storms of exception during my Florida years. Suffice to say, heavy rain is more common there (and here) than in the Southwest Deserts!