[metmom]

The contention earlier on the thread is that Sandy was over blown and did not deserve the label of superstorm, something we heard a LOT of during and just after the storm hit.

A lot of people were poo-pooing it, saying it was just media hype, etc.

It was a big storm, both in actual physical size, and the large area of destruction and the magnitude of it. It was not media hype.

No, nobody is saying that there weren’t bigger storms or ones that may have cause similar damage, but Sandy sure ranked right up there with the worst of the worst and it was big enough in physical size to be labeled as a super storm

As for the predictions, the American computer models did not predict the storm track it took, although they should have. It was an European computer model which got it right.

Additionally, I watched the radar map during this whole scenario and the storm that came out of the midwest which sucked Sandy into it, actually backed up back out to the west, and THAT IS unprecedented. We are in the prevailing southwesterlies and storm systems ALWAYS head in an easterly direction. They just don’t go east to west. That was a very unusual scenario.

[Kartographer]

There were plenty on FR that voiced their willingness to see the whole northeast coast to be washed out to sea and its population with it if it would have ensure BAMA’s defeat. I wanted the man gone as much as the next guy, but not by the deaths of hundreds of thousands of fellow Americans.

[editor-surveyor]

>> “ We are in the prevailing southwesterlies and storm systems ALWAYS head in an easterly direction. They just don’t go east to west. That was a very unusual scenario.” <<

.
Most of the year, that is true, but in late October, East to West systems dominate. Depending on where you are, they are called ‘Chinooks,’ or ‘Santa Annas.’

They tend to be warm.

[Marcella]

I didn't know some Freepers were discounting Sandy's strength/destruction. Metmom, I stayed glued to the TV and watched the weather channel and Fox and CNN, switching back and forth to watch what was happening before it came in, during it, and afterward. Perhaps a person has to be in one to understand hurricanes have a mind of their own and where they go is not up to us and no one knows what it will destroy when it comes ashore, regardless of the number it is given. That storm was exceptional due to two systems meeting. When I saw that was going to happen, I knew there would be great destruction and loss of life.

I saw Hurricane Ike heading my way and it was enormous in size - that meant a large destruction field and I was going to be in it for a number of hours due to it's being so large. There was nothing I could do to stop it or move it somewhere else. All I could do was get ready for no power and the town totally shutting down for days and I didn't know how many days, no one knew that. One also doesn't know if a tornado(s) will be spawned from it. I didn't know if my house would be damaged, whether or not the two huge trees behind my house were going to fall on it. If they did, they would crash into my bedroom.

My point is, even a 1 hurricane can destroy everything you have and kill you. People who are dismissing Sandy as a weak hurricane are absolutely wrong.

Ike was in 2008 and every year that passes makes us closer to another one coming here. I hope it is many years before one comes to New Jersey and New York and the rest of the states in that area.