Remembering destructive Sandy

 

Sandy in late-October 2012 (Source: NOAA)

Today is the 14^th anniversary of “Superstorm” Sandy’s landfall in New Jersey. The infamous storm had been a Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 115 mph and a minimum central air pressure of 940 millibars. It was the strongest hurricane of the active 2012 Atlantic hurricane season. 

However, shortly before its landfall in New Jersey, Sandy moved over cooler water and into an increasingly unfavorable environment for a tropical storm or hurricane. Consequently, the structure of the storm changed and the National Hurricane Center declared Sandy to be a “non-tropical” or “post-tropical” storm. That caused a lot of confusion for residents of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States who thought Sandy was no longer a threat since the hurricane watches and warnings were discontinued after it was declared “post-tropical.” 

At the time, Sandy was instead dubbed a “Superstorm” and made landfall as the equivalent of a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds of 80 mph and a minimum central pressure of 946 millibars. As Sandy transitioned to a non-tropical storm, its wind field and rain shield each increased in diameter. That allowed for a larger geographic area to be impacted. 

Baltimore, MD; Philadelphia, PA; Trenton, NJ; and Atlantic City, NJ all set records for the lowest air pressure reading, according to NOAA. The lower the air pressure is, the stronger the storm is and the higher the winds tend to be.

Record flooding occurred in New Jersey, New York City and on Long Island, N.Y. with epic storm surges. Tens of thousands were left without electricity or heat for weeks. Record rainfall totals also occurred in the DMV (DC, Maryland and Virginia) with the following two-day rainfall totals:

October 29:  DCA (National Airport): 3.85” / Dulles Airport (IAD): 4.26” / BWI: 5.51”

October 30:  DCA: 0.84” / IAD: 1.00” / BWI: 0.92”

Eye-popping snowfall totals also occurred as Sandy pushed further inland and reached some of the higher elevation of the Appalachian Mountains. In West Virginia, for example, Richwood saw 36” of snow, Snowshoe got 32” and Davis had 28”. In all, Sandy did an estimated $88.5 billion in damages (2024 dollars) and is the fifth most destructive “hurricane” in U.S. history. Sandy also caused 147 direct fatalities in the United States largely due to storm surge, flooding and downed trees, according to NOAA.