Leslie and I are still stuck in New Orleans. As I noted yesterday, we have been stranded by US Airways which cancelled flights to Washington yesterday despite the relatively mild weather in the city. It appears that the airline simply did not want aircraft in Washington when the storm hit. My complaint has not been that decision but the lack of consumer support after trying for hours to reach anyone at the airline. We have little choice but to try to drive back to Virginia since we have four kids who are being watched over by our sitter (I also have classes to teach on Tuesday and Wednesday). We intend to be highly cautious and stop if it gets to dicey. However, we cannot leave the kids any longer in this storm.
We have been told that we might be able to get on a flight for Tuesday but it does not look promising. Indeed, it was not even raining last night in D.C. with low winds. Tuesday looks like it will be pouring with strong winds. We love New Orleans (where I used to live) but we are increasingly anxious to be with the kids.
There may be an interruption in my posting on Tuesday in light of our effort to drive back. I will try to tweet on our status.
I hope everyone is safe during the storm. I would not travel if we were not separated from our kids. I strongly recommend that people stay indoors and of course continually on this blog.
Blouise,
We had a Halloween party here on “the farm” on Saturday. The weather was gorgeous. Julia wore the jack-o-lantern costume I got for her–and my daughter dressed up as a Teletubby.
Accdg NWS samples by me, sustained winds seem to be about the same, ca 50 mph, from Washington to NYC.
The cold front has apparently sneaked in by the south back door, with near freezing reports from Raleigh, NC.
Chicag os mild but windy. NYC also warm.
ElaineM,
Connecticut is expected to have their highest winds by 8PM accdg to NWS NYC. Yours will come later.
Dangerous condx expected until 5 PM EDT Tuesday.
Elaine,
I’m glad for you … give the baby a hug from me.
We have a Halloween party at pre-school tomorrow followed by a sleep-over so grandparents and grandchild are very excited!
Blouise,
I’m not at home. I came up to my daughter’s house–which is not near the coast–yesterday because I didn’t want to be on the road today. My husband is taking care of things at home. At the moment, things are not too bad where I am. Things may get bad late tonight though.
I expect NYC and Atlantic City to go out with travel campaigns aimed at attracting EU tourists to next year’s Hurricane. Problem is that “No Hurricane=No Pay” guarantees will no insurance company offer coverage on.
Some are even now negotiating selling footage to Hollywood of the “Storm of the Century”.
Where’s the cold front? Any news from Chicago on whether a front has passed?
Thank goodness for the 12 foot stone/concrete seawall where I was on the Jersey coast in 1960.
SwM,
I’m safe at home but Tex will be coming home about 10:30 tonight. Not good.
Blouise, Be careful. They even have flood warnings for downtown Chicago.
Elaine,
We are hundreds of miles removed from you here on Lake Erie in Ohio and the weather is god-awful. We have downed trees and utility polls, roads closed with sustained high winds and rain and worse is predicted over night.
It’s bad for us; I can’t even imagine what it’s like for you.
Sandy could bring ‘catastrophe,’ affect 60 millionBy Tom Watkins, Josh Levs and Chelsea J. Carter, CNN
October 29, 2012
http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/29/us/tropical-weather-sandy/index.html
Excerpt:
(CNN) — Hurricane Sandy neared an expected evening landfall on Monday, ripping up part of the fabled boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and spawning high winds and torrential rains from North Carolina to Maine.
“In some places, we have two and a half to three feet of water on the ground, and this is the low tide,” Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford told CNN.
The storm had already knocked down power lines and tree limbs while still 50 miles offshore, and he urged anyone staying in the resort to “hunker down and try to wait this thing out.”
“When Mother Nature sends her wrath your way, we’re at her mercy, and so all we can do is stay prayerful and do the best that we can,” Langford said.
Sandy’s eye was expected to come ashore along or near the southern New Jersey shore early Monday evening. Sandy had already “wiped out” a northern section of the boardwalk in Atlantic City, but most of the East Coast landmark was intact, Langford said.
At 5 p.m. ET, Sandy was a Category 2 storm with top winds of 90 mph (150 km/h), the National Hurricane Center reported. The eye was about 30 miles east-southeast of Cape May, New Jersey, moving to the west-northwest at 28 mph.
An expected storm surge could raise water levels to 11 feet above normal high tide, already the highest of the month due to a full moon. And forecasters said Sandy was likely to collide with a cold front and spawn a “superstorm” that could generate flash floods and snowstorms.
I think I am really tired. Left off the link to NWS at Morristown, TN.
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mrx/
“The sky is falling, the sky is falling.” My point is use common sense, ALWAYS respect Mother Nature and she’ll spare you. Panic is never productive.
OS, I’ve been to Brigantine having worked @ the Jersey shore during my college years. If they’re not evacuating as directed I believe Darwinism is @ work. I do hope Lucy the Elephant in Margate survives. At least mute the commercials all you chicken little folks.
idealist,
I don’t know what your gripe with me is–nor do I care at this point. You often infer things from comments that I write that are incorrect.
I have just been watching the weather reports on TV. Local reporters have gone out and gotten some video. There is already quite a bit of snow at the higher elevations. If Professor Turley and Leslie are going up Interstate 81, they can expect to run into more serious winter weather conditions about Abingdon, VA. Blizzard conditions are forecast as far south as Clintwood and Pound, VA. Here is the weather from the NWS station at Morristown, TN.
Billie,
Enjoy your good weather. Not everyone is as fortunate as you.
Hurricane Sandy: More than 1 million already without power
Last Updated 5:45 p.m.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57542015/hurricane-sandy-more-than-1-million-already-without-power/
Hello Elaine M.
yes thank you the weather is not bad up here… thank you for your concern… sitting here watching the news as I type and yes NY and NJ are getting slammed… big storm…. was in Ice storm up here 2 years ago cook on wood stove… no power for 2 weeks… no fun at all… so I am sure we are all thinking about those in Sandy’s path…. thank you
ElaineM,
I know that technique too. Swedes are perfectionists in using it.
I can even write your reply to this ahead of time.
What technique?, you will ask.
I gave the reply I gave. You won’t get any more.
Killing with kindness does not work either. But that is up to you, as for all here.
I provided a service. And don’t plan to rise to any more bait casted on the surface of Sandy.
Nick,
Suggest not predicting hurricanes. Katrina which was a class 5 (temporally) was apparently not as wide as this one.
Joke: Katrina could have been worse but Dubja asked Poppy his dad HW to put some oil on the waters, and BP helped him. Is that why he looked so happy looking at the damage from AF One? Great man to take photos of. Wonder if the WH photographer’s archive is on line from those years.
The one of him sitting in the classroom after advised of 9/11 is a classic. But I diverge.
idealist,
I didn’t fault NOAA–nor did I blame you for anything. I just noted that the link you provided was to an NOAA announcement dated October 27th. Reread what I wrote.
Well here in Maine up in the woods…. near Portland… the weather people like to start S—– lol our winds right now are 23 mph we are not going to get much up here and its going to be 60 to 65 tomorrow… summer… ya ya ya no snow…. ya scare tactics so you will go buy everything in the store ………………… We are all good here in this part of the world of Maine 🙂
but everyone is going crazy up here….. rude people in the stores… and just crazy………….
rafflaw,
I like to be prepared in case of an emergency. I lived through the Blizzard of ’78–which was not predicted. I had an extremely difficult time driving home from work that day. I also recall another huge blizzard that was not predicted during my first year of teaching. My friend picked me up from work. Our car got stuck in the middle of a road in the town where we taught. We had to walk over a mile through howling winds and snow to the apartment of some friends where got warm and called for help.
I believe it is better to be safe than sorry. Let us not forget what happened in this country during and after Hurricane Katrina.