Hurricane Sandy, AKA Frankenstorm

With Hurricane Sandy poised to make her way up the East Coast, it is important to reiterate the importance of personal preparedness.  How will you be informed?  Do you have a plan?

The National Hurricane Center  is currently updating Sandy’s status every six hours.  The last prediction at 5:00 AM, had Hurricane Sandy making landfall on the Delmarva Peninsula at 2:00 AM on Tuesday, October 30th, 2012.  It is important to note that Arlington County is  included in this prediction.  Hurricane force winds are not predicted on Tuesday, though tropical storm force winds (39 mph sustained) are expected to peak on Tuesday.  Arlington will begin to feel the outer edges of Sandy as early as Sunday afternoon (10/28).

2012 has proven to be a year of new meteorological vocabulary.  In June, it was Derecho.  Now the term Frankenstorm has been suggested by meteorologists at the National Weather Service, who were showing their Halloween spirit. Frankenstorm describes a scenario where Hurricane Sandy is predicted to combine with other weather fronts, and results in a number of different possibilities described by the NWS’s Hydrometeorological  Prediction Center (HPC).  Snow (far to the West) is one of these possibilities.

The Office of Emergency Management will update this post as predictions change.  If you have not signed up for Arlington Alert, please do so to get timely information via text, email or pager.

Category: Uncategorized