Sandy strengthens to historic proportions! Barrels towards the coast.
As of 11 am this morning, Sandy had a barometric pressure of 943 mb and falling! To put this into perspective, until now, the lowest pressure ever recorded from a non-tropical system to strike the United States was a 955 mb low that occured over the Great Lakes in October 2010.
This also exceeds the 958 mb central pressure recorded in the 1978 Blizzard and the March 1993 Superstorm that produced a low of 960. We are truly witnessing a historic and potentially catastrophic event unfolding!
Already, we have seen severe beach erosion and coastal flooding along parts of the New Jersey Coast. This image was taken this morning from Atlantic City where the storm surge has reached 4 feet.
The wind field on this storm is massive with Tropical Storm force winds being reported from Southern Maine all the way down into coastal sections of North Carolina.
Sustained winds have increased to more than 80 mph and recently we've had reports of gusts over 100 mph just off the coast!
We are seeing a huge swell developing off shore with bouy data indicating that the combination of storm surge and waves have raised the ocean level to more than 30 feet above normal!
With the the center of circulation coming on shore across Southern New Jersey later today, areas to the north will see the brunt of the storm.
The combination of the very low pressure, and a massive wind field will only increase the storm surge as the storm makes landfall by early this evening.
The storm surge is forecasted to reach 12 feet or higher for parts of New York City. This will shatter the all time record for highest seal level recorded in the city's history!
Please keep those affected in mind and say a prayer for those caught in the path of this bohemeth of a storm!
Meteorologist Jeremy Kappell
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