A view of the East River ahead of Hurricane Sandy October 29, 2012 on the east side of Manhattan in New York City. Sandy, which has already claimed over 50 lives in the Caribbean is predicted to bring heavy winds and floodwaters to the mid-Atlantic region. /AP
Last Updated at 4:27 p.m. ET
NEW YORKA superstorm threatening 50 million people in the most heavily populated corridor in the nation gained strength Monday, packing winds of 90 mph and picking up considerable speed just hours before it is expected to make landfall, forecasters said.
The National Hurricane Center said Monday afternoon that Hurricane Sandy is moving northwest at 28 mph - up from 18 mph a few hours earlier. At 4:00 p.m. ET the Category 1 hurricane was about 55 miles east-southeast of Cape May, N.J. The storm's top sustained winds are holding at about 90 mph with higher gusts.
Gale/tropical storm-force force winds were reported from North Carolina to southern New England.
Hours before the storm made landfall, high winds had already knocked out power to more than half a million customers in several states by mid-day Monday.
Sandy is expected to hook inland Monday, colliding with a wintry storm moving in from the west and cold air streaming down from the Arctic. Forecasters say the storm's center will make landfall along or just south of the Southern New Jersey coast Monday evening.
Sandy’s wrath brings water to Grandview Island in Hampton, Va. Facebook/Sherry Winstead Martin
Hurricane Sandy shuts down film and TV production on East Coast
The CW's "Gossip Girl" was one of several TV shows that shut down production because of Hurricane Sandy. (Giovanni Rufino)
By Richard Verrier and Meredith Blake
October 29, 2012, 11:40 a.m.
Hurricane Sandy has put a temporary halt to film and TV production in New York City.
New York City officials announced that all film permits in the city have been revoked for Monday and Tuesday because of "Hurricane Sandy and continuing safety precautions,'' according to a statement from the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment. "There will be no City authorized outdoor filming within the five boroughs."
Rough surf of the Atlantic Ocean breaks over the beach and across Beach Ave., Monday morning, Oct. 29, 2012, in Cape May, N.J., as high tide and Hurricane Sandy begin to arrive.
Hurricane Sandy Liveblog: Sandy on track for record low barometric reading (+video)
Hurricane Sandy has turned toward the East Coast and intensified with a barometric pressure reading of 940 millibars. Sustained wind speeds are 90 mph up to 175 miles from the eye.
The eye of Hurricane Sandy is now 2-3 hours from the coast of New Jersey, according to the latest National Hurricane Center advisory. Winds are still at 90 mph, and Sandy's still moving at about 28 mph. Some have speculated that since Sandy is arriving sooner than forecast, and ahead of the high tide (between 8-9 p.m. tonight), that the storm surge won't be as bad as predicted. But that reasoning may be wrong.
Already the storm surge at New York City's Battery is at 6.1 feet, well above last year's peak during Hurricane Irene. Atlantic City is reporting a 5- foot storm surge. New Haven, Conn. is at 5 feet, and Boston has seas 4.2 feet above normal.
As previously reported, the expected storm surge in the NYC area is 6 to 11 feet. Even if Sandy makes landfall before the high tide, the winds whip around the backside of Sandy will push sea levels higher.
Monday 3:05 p.m.
Hurricane Sandy's barometric pressure has dropped to 940 millibars. Wind speeds are holding at 90 mph,according to the 2 p.m. National Hurricane Center update.
Sandy is turning toward the East Coast and has sped up to 28 mph. Even as it makes a left turn, "it also is swapping energy sources to become an extratropical cyclone.
The shift from tropical to extratropical tends to intensify the storm for a period, as well as redistribute winds and rainfall in ways that can shift the regions most heavily affected by wind and rain," writes Pete Spotts, the science writer for The Christian Science Monitor.
If Sandy retains the current barometric pressure, or it drops further, at landfall, the location would go into the record books as experiencing the lowest barometric pressure of any spot in the US north of Cape Hatteras, according to data compiled by the Weather Underground.
Google has put together a crisis map for Hurricane Sandy, which overlays lots of different data about the storm – including its current position and forecast track, storm surge probabilities, traffic conditions, and emergency shelter locations – into a single interactive image.
Also, be sure to check out this mesmerizing map of wind conditions across the United States. It was developed a few weeks by Google data visualization experts Fernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg, in part to help people conceptualize the potential of wind energy, but the map is particularly striking on a day like today.
How does Hurricane Sandy compare with Irene, which battered the East Coast from South Carolina to Maine last year? Take a look at this interactive image from the Wall Street Journal.
Irene was the fifth costliest hurricane in US history.
If you're interested in how Sandy compares to every cyclones recorded since 1851, check out this graphic from the Guardian.
Finally, if you haven't had enough scenes of reporters getting pelted by sea foam, people buying bottled water, or Fox News weathercaster Janice Dean throwing air quotes, have a look at Poynter's collection of animated gifs of hurricane clichés.
What's all the buzz about Hurricane Sandy's barometric pressure? (And does it have anything to do with inducing labor in pregnant women?)
Hurricane Sandy's barometric pressure is really low, especially for a Category 1 (winds between 74-95 mph) hurricane.
Generally, the lower the barometric pressure, the higher the winds.
Barometric pressure is a measurement of the weight of the air. "Baros" is Greek for weight, and the Greek word for measure is "metron." A barometer measures the weight of a column of air directly above a given point in terms of inches or milibars of mercury displaced.
The normal sea level pressure is 1013.25 millibars.
Hurricane Sandy's barometric pressure was 943 milibars Monday morning, according to the Hurricane Hunters, the US Air Force pilots that regularly fly into the eye of hurricanes. That reading was a drop from the previous reading, indicating an intensification of the hurricane.
Hurricane Sandy's barometric pressure is now roughly equivalent to the typical Category 3 or Category 4 storm on Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. But Sandy is not a typical hurricane; it is, in the words of Weather Channel meterologist Stu Ostro, a "meteorologically mind-boggling combination of ingredients."
But we digress from role of barometric pressure. Suffice it to say, Sandy's barometric numbers are low, and they are helping make it a very big storm.
How low are Sandy's barometric readings? The storm isn't (yet) in the US Top 10 most intense (as measured by low barometric pressure) hurricanes. But Sandy's getting close. No. 10 on the list was a Hurricane Carla, a 1961 Category 4 storm with 931 millibars.
The lowest barometric pressure ever measured in a US hurricane was 882 millibars, in Hurricane Wilma in 2005. Wilma had sustained winds of more than 185 mph, making it a Category 5 storm. The cyclone with the lowest recorded barometric pressure in the world was the 1979 storm Typhoon Tip, in the western Pacific Ocean, with a measurement of 869.9 millibars.
A gas station displays a sign saying they’re out of gas in Branford, Ct. Facebook/Kevin Clancy
Hurricane Sandy headed toward Russell Crowe's 'Noah' ark
The Oyster Bay, N.Y., set of "Noah," featuring a massive ark from the biblical epic. The set is in the path of Hurricane Sandy. (Dan Wagner/New York Magazine)
Hurricane Sandy has shut down production on at least half a dozen New York television shows and feature films, but none more ironically than Russell Crowe's “Noah.”
Writer-director Darren Aronofsky’s film about the biblical flood and ark postponed shooting Monday, but the more pressing question is what will happen to the movie’s colossal boat. Aronofsky’s production team built two massive ships—one inside a Brooklyn sound stage, the other in the water at Oyster Bay, N.Y.
And Oyster Bay, a small inlet on the Long Island Sound, is very much in the path of Hurricane Sandy, with local flooding and wind gusts of up to 63 mph reported in the area.
The outdoor ark, which measures 450 feet long and is 75 feet tall and 45 feet wide, was not intended to be seaworthy. With production on the film wrapping up soon, the ark was scheduled to be used only sparingly in the weeks ahead and was partially dismantled over the last several days. But if the storm damages the Oyster Bay boat materially, “Noah” may need to organize some flood repairs.
Emma Watson, who co-stars in the film opposite Crowe, sent out a Twitter message Sunday night saying, “I take it that the irony of a massive storm holding up the production” of the film was not lost on her director or Crowe. Aronofsky used his down time to catch up on some movies, seeing “Cloud Atlas” and “The Master.”
Paramount Pictures' “Noah” is set for release in March 2014.
A man looks down at a boarded up Broad Street subway station across the street from the New York Stock Exchange in New York October 28, 2012 as residents of lower Manhattan evacuate the city in preparation for Hurricane Sandy. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images)
Hurricane Sandy doesn't stop sentries at Tomb of the Unknowns
Spc. Brett Hyde keeps guard over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during Hurricane Sandy at Arlington National Cemetery, Va. (Sgt. Jose A. Torres Jr. / U.S. Army / October 29, 2012)
WASHINGTON — Federal offices are shuttered. Schools are closed. Busses and subways have stopped running.
But the uniformed sentries at Arlington National Cemetery's Tomb of the Unknowns continued to stand guard Monday even as drenching rain from Hurricane Sandy doused the nation’s capital.
Volunteer soldiers, one by one, are taking turns guarding the tomb, dedicated in 1921 and long among the most visited sites in the nation's capital.
"They will physically guard the Unknowns until conditions are no longer safe," said Maj. John Miller of the 3rd U.S. Infantry. “When the weather makes it unsafe to stand outside, the sentinel will move inside the awards room in the amphitheater where he can still see the tomb, but is out of the elements."
The soldiers are guarding the tomb in two-hour shifts.
Hurricane Sandy: Tens of thousands already without power
Matt Moran, a trimmer with Townsend Tree Service, cuts a fallen tree limb from a power line on 19th Avenue that fell as a result of the strong winds from Hurricane Sandy, Monday, Oct., 29, 2012, in Sea Cliff, N.Y. /AP PHOTO/KATHY KMONICEK
Last Updated 12:36 p.m. ET
Hours before Hurricane Sandy makes landfall, utilities have already reported power outages for customers in several states. More than 67,000 customers were without power in Virginia, Delaware, New Jersey, and several other states.
LILCO reports more than 21,000 customers on Long Island were without power Monday morning. Con Edison reports at least 2,000 customers in New York City and in Westchester County are without power.
In Upstate New York NYSE&G reports 3,900 customers affected.
North Carolina
Duke Energy reports more than 4,100 customers without power. Progress Energyreports more than 1,100 customers without power Monday morning.
Pennsylvania
PPL Electric Utilities reports more than 2,100 customers without power in eastern Pennsylvania.
Rhode Island
National Grid says about 2,600 customers had lost power by around 9 a.m. Monday.
Virginia
Dominion Virginia says it has restored power to about 3,000 customers by early Monday; about 2,000 remain without service.
Hurricane Sandy: Monday's Rare NYSE, Nasdaq Closing Likely To Last Through Tuesday
NEW YORK, N.Y.--Construction workers carry boards of wood to cover air vents that could cause the New York subway system to flood in preparation for Hurricane Sandy on October 28, 2012 in New York City. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)
U.S. trading came to a halt this morning, as exchanges across the country ended early or didn’t open at all. The pause come hours before Hurricane Sandy even made landfall, raising the odds that the exchanges will stay closed tomorrow.
“It’s hard to imagine that we would open tomorrow,” NYSE Euronext CEO Duncan Niederauer told CNBC.
Originally, the NYSE hoped to shift trading to its electronic NYSE Arca exchange, which is not based near New York. The Nasdaq, already an electronic platform, had intended to stay open as well. The decisions came just before midnight on the East Coast, and officials say they later today will make a decision about whether to stay closed tomorrow. Bond markets will end trading early today at noon.
The shuttering of the two exchanges will halt U.S. stock trading and mark an unusual occurrence; significantly, the move to Arca would have meant the first time that the NYSE operated as an all-electronic exchange. It is the first time in 27 years, for example, that the NYSE will stay closed for weather. The NYSE opened the day after Tropical Storm Irene’s Sunday arrival last year: This time, the major difference is that Hurricane Sandy will hit on a Monday, and transportation will stay offline, a NYSE spokesman told FORBES.
Hurricane Sandy delivers high winds and torrential rain
Storm destroys downtown pier in Ocean City
Hurricane Sandy sent powerful waves crashing onto the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland.
By Scott Dance, Mary Gail Hare and Erin Cox, The Baltimore Sun
12:25 p.m. EDT, October 29, 2012
As Hurricane Sandy pounds the mid-Atlantic coast Monday, the Baltimore region is bracing for gale-force winds and flooding.
The area remains under a flood watch through Tuesday evening, with coastal flooding expected late Monday into Wednesday morning, according to the National Weather Service. Heavy rain, as much as six inches, and high winds, with gusts as much as 70 miles per hour, will occur throughout Monday afternoon and well into Tuesday, according to forecasters.
Gov. Martin O'Malley warned of the danger of the storm Monday. "There will be people who will die and are killed in this storm," the governor said while visiting the Maryland Emergency Management Agency. "Stay off the roads, hunker down with your families."
Waves pound, winds whip, residents hunker down as Hurricane Sandy hits state
Bill Greene/Globe Staff
Jillian Webb and Arianna Corso of Dennis braved the elements to go to Lighthouse Beach in Chatham today, where Hurricane Sandy pelted them with wind and sand.
By Melissa Werthmann, Peter Schworm, John R. Ellement and Martin Finucane, Globe Correspondent and Globe Staff
Waves are pounding the shores and winds are whipping through the trees this morning as the effects of Hurricane Sandy slowly intensify in Massachusetts. With coastal flooding expected, officials warned people in several seaside communities to evacuate.
Residents are hunkering down at home, with schools, state and federal government offices, and many businesses closed. Roads are emptier than usual, and the state highway department urged truckers to “seek refuge at secure locations.” The MBTA also announced that it would discontinue all service at 2 p.m.
More than 17,000 electric customers across Eastern Massachusetts had lost power at about noon today. The latest National Grid power outage map shows more than 9,000 customers affected. NStar is reporting more than 6,200 customers without power. “We have close to a thousand crews working on storm restoration,” Caroline Pretyman, NStar spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. Unitil is reporting more than 1,000 customers are without power.
The state is at the outer edges of a “superstorm” that is expected to crash into the mid-Atlantic states later today. The storm, which had been steaming north through the ocean, has made a westward turn and is zeroing in on the coast, according to the National Weather Service.
As of 11 a.m. today, the storm was about 260 miles southeast of New York City, expected to make landfall near Cape May, N.J., at 11 p.m. Exactly where the landfill will happen is still uncertain, said weather service meteorologist Charlie Foley. “It’s kind of like a wait and see,” he said. “It has made its left turn, but where it makes landfall isn’t exactly definitive.”
Sandy is a Category 1 hurricane carrying 90-mile-per-hour winds. The storm is moving north-northwest at 18 miles per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center. Forecasters have urged the public not to underestimate its strength even hundreds of miles away from where it makes landfall.
Romney Scraps Monday Night and Tuesday Campaigning
By STEVE PEOPLES Associated Press
AVON LAKE, Ohio October 29, 2012 (AP)
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is curtailing his campaign schedule as Hurricane Sandy bears down on the Eastern seaboard, canceling planned appearances Monday night and all day Tuesday.
Campaign officials say vice presidential running mate Paul Ryan will also scrap campaign rallies during the same time frame.
The decision was announced a short while after President Barack Obama canceled a planned rally in Florida to fly back to Washington, where aides said he would oversee the government's response to the threat posed by the storm.
Romney intends to go ahead with speeches today in Ohio and Iowa before he begins observing his self-imposed storm-related moratorium on campaigning.
The former Massachusetts governor and Obama are locked in a close race, eight days before Election Day.
Instead, there have been 19 — 10 of them hurricanes — and it is not over yet. In terms of numbers of storms, this will go down as the third busiest Atlantic hurricane season since record-keeping began in 1851, exceeded only by 2005 (the off-the-charts year of Katrina) and 1933.
So what happened? The original outlook by NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center was about as accurate as it could have been at the time, all the way back last spring. But the oceans and the atmosphere make for a complex system, and the Northeast is suffering now because of patterns that formed as far away is Indonesia.
In the air over southeastern Asia is a phenomenon called the Madden-Julian Oscillation, or MJO — air currents that can shift back and forth in 30 cycles of 30 to 60 days. It usually means very little to Americans, as it mostly affects Asian monsoons. But late this summer it shifted to feed increased amounts of warm, moist air to the east, toward the Pacific, and ultimately toward the United States.
“We had a busy start to the hurricane season — 13 named storms by the end of September, though only Isaac did anything to the U.S.,” said Paul Knight, a meteorologist at Penn State University. “After that there was a lull. Then the MJO began to act up.”
On top of it, there was El Nino, the giant strip of warm water in the Pacific that periodically forms along the equator, rearranging jet streams that flow over it. An El Nino began to weaken just in the past few months — bad news for people along the Atlantic 10,000 miles away. For lack of a strong El Nino, there were not the usual high-level air currents that would help break hurricanes apart as they tried to move toward the U.S. coastline.
