The "Frankenstorm"

[LE Greys]

The north-eastern USA has just been hit by a combination of Hurricane Sandy, a cold weather system from Canada and a massive storm surge. New York took the worst of it, and bits of the subway are flooded. I've just been watching the story on the news, and the pictures look rather frightening. Several people have died.

There are a few questions about this. Firstly, how the heck are they going to dry out the Subway? Secondly, what are the implications for London (a similar surge might well have been higher than the Thames Barrier? Thirdly, if anyone happens to live near New York, what sort of flood defences are possible?

The remnants of the 'Frankenstorm' will probably cross the Atlantic and hit us next week.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20131303

<EDIT> It seems I haven't referenced it properly (old habits die hard), so here is the source from the BBC News website. I might have chosen a better page, though, sorry.

Super-storm Sandy has devastated parts of the US east coast, leading President Barack Obama to declare a "major disaster" in New York state.

New York, the country's most populous city, is among the worst-hit, with floodwaters swamping the subway system, flooding low-lying streets and wiping out power.

Parts of New York City are designated hurricane evacuation zones - low-lying areas most at risk from flooding.

The most vulnerable areas are marked in blue on the map below [not included - I'm not sure how]. Most of the flooding from super-storm Sandy appears to be in these locations.

 

[Eagle]

Secondly, what are the implications for London (a similar surge might well have been higher than the Thames Barrier?

But it's basically meteorologically impossible for such a large storm to exist in the North Sea, so that won't happen.

 

[David]

I'm just waiting for someone to come along and say that this super-storm is proof that climate change is affecting the weather....

 

[Johnuk123]

The in-laws live in Virginia and they've had about 18 inches of snow today.

The weather woman on Sky said that we probably will get the tail end next week sometime but at the moment it's too difficult to say how bad.

 

[Class172]

How many hurricanes per year manage to get into Canada intact, surely there can't be many, as most have dissipated by the time they reach such northern latitudes?

 

[ainsworth74]

The weather woman on Sky said that we probably will get the tail end next week sometime but at the moment it's too difficult to say how bad.

Whilst the weather woman on the BBC said that it will probably head off and annoy Greenland missing us entirely.

How many hurricanes per year manage to get into Canada intact, surely there can't be many, as most have dissipated by the time they reach such northern latitudes?

Hasn't it been downgraded to a winter storm? Shortly after landfall I believe?

 

[Class172]

Hasn't it been downgraded to a winter storm? Shortly after landfall I believe?

Has it? I wasn't aware of that.

 

[David]

It's a post-tropical storm. Downgraded yesterday before landfall.

 

[NSEFAN]

I'm just waiting for someone to come along and say that this super-storm is proof that climate change is affecting the weather....

That fad passed long ago. The current thing is to claim this is proof the world will be ending in 2012, and it's time to repent!

 

[Class172]

he current thing is to claim this is proof the world will be ending in 2012, and it's time to repent!

I'd forgotten about the end of the world, this year's been too interesting. :roll:

 

[LE Greys]

I'm just waiting for someone to come along and say that this super-storm is proof that climate change is affecting the weather....

Besides (and this comes from someone who thinks climate change being caused by us is a solid theory) correlation is not causation. One can just as easily claim that storms are getting more severe because of Stevenage Borough's rise towards the Premiership. Anyway, this is one datapoint, and so useless in proving correlation.

 

[michael769]

Our weather tends to come from the Gulf of Mexico (hence the Gulf Stream) so it is the more southerly hurricanes and tropical storms that affect Florida that tend to reach us. This one is expected to track over Canada so way too far North to bother us directly.

Though its sheer size means that as it passes near the pole it may throw out one of those long straggly rain fronts that can give us one of those dank drizzly days we sometimes get in winter.

 

[Oswyntail]

We are getting some amusement out of the headlines, as we have a son called Sandy, who is living in Canada. My favourite quote to date is from today's Times: "Sandy, like a lumbering, farting Sumo wrestler, has squatted on us".

 

[Stephen55a1960]

The in-laws live in Virginia and they've had about 18 inches of snow today.

The weather woman on Sky said that we probably will get the tail end next week sometime but at the moment it's too difficult to say how bad.

I have friends in Massachusetts. They are OK but have had very strong winds and lots of rain.

 

[Dennis]

...... have had very strong winds and lots of rain.

Reminds me of what we had all summer!

 

[Bayum]

It's a post-tropical storm. Downgraded yesterday before landfall.

It hadn't been 'downgraded' per sé at that point.

Post tropical merely means that it is in/on its way to a transition to an extra tropical storm - granted this isn't a hurricane as the temperatures an stucture changes, thus 'post' tropical - because it doesn't have the temperature or structure a 'tropical' cyclone has.