Guardian UK: 10 reasons why Hurricane Sandy is not being over-hyped [View all]

[snagglepuss]

4. 80 miles per hour – We're talking about hurricane force wind gusts into New York City with sustained winds of 50 miles per hour likely. And 40 mile per hour sustained winds are possible all the way from Buffalo, New York, to Boston, Massachusetts, to Washington, DC, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This will likely cause massive power outages over a wide area.

5. 951 millibars – Sandy's extremely low pressure ensures that the storm will be long lasting, massive in scope, and windy all over the place. The lowest low pressure to ever hit New Jersey was 961 millibars. The pressure in New York City right now is 1007
millibars. Hurricane Isaac, which hit New Orleans earlier this year, had a minimum low pressure of only 968 millibars.

6. Two feet – Most of us are concentrating on the rain and wind, so it's easy to forget that there will be snow with this storm. The mountains of West Virginia above 3000 feet could see one to two feet of snow. There are also likely to be some snowflakes falling into central Ohio, though any accumulations there should be far less.

7. 36 hours – Most storms of tropical origin see their winds diminish quickly upon landfall. Sandy isn't going to stop with tropical storm force winds until well into Wednesday. It may already be near Buffalo at this point. Rainfall over 3+ inches will follow this wind line. Rain could continue in Philadelphia until early Wednesday. That's why we're seeing so many watches and warnings of many different types all over the place




http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/28/hurricane-sandy-powerful-storm-perspective?newsfeed=true