I have been watching Hurricane Sandy's track up the east coast and as usual the Weather Channel seems to be trying to outdo itself in the level of hysteria it can arouse. At this point I don't know if they are crying "wolf" or Sandy is as big of a threat as they claim.
Usually I don't really pay that much attention to hurricanes (tornadoes are my special interest) but Sandy does have the potential to impact Michigan, which is rather unusual for an Atlantic hurricane. The forecasters are saying that winds could be hurricane strength 500 miles from the core--which means if Sandy comes ashore around Washington, D.C. and heads northwest as expected, we may see some pretty windy weather here in the next two days. What a lot of people don't realize is that Washington. D.C. and the Atlantic coast is closer to Southwest Michigan than parts of the Upper Peninsula.
Which got me thinking about hurricane tracks. I went online and looked up historic hurricane tracks and found that Michigan is far more likely to have remnants of Gulf hurricanes track through than Atlantic hurricanes. This seems surprising given the distance from the Gulf, but apparently the jet stream has something to do with it. The last Atlantic hurricane-derived storm to track through here was Hurricane Connie in 1955 which went up Lake Huron and fizzled out up by Sault Sainte Marie. Ontario is far more likely to be hit. Given that we are only about 500 miles from the Atlantic any hurricane-derived storm that makes it way this far inland will still be packing quite a wallop. So it is probably a good thing that they don't come this far.
So will Sandy do what Connie did and come through here? If the wind starts coming from the northeast that might well be an indication that she is on her way. This will be real interesting to watch weather-wise. When Ike came through in 2008 from the Gulf he spawned several weak out of season tornadoes. One of them was a major topic of discussion at Skywarn training because it was so unusual. This was the one I saw. I am not expecting any tornadoes this time. But if Sandy holds together long enough to come through here she should have a much more organized weather pattern than Ike and the rain bands should be even more noticeable.
Right now it is cold and cloudy but nothing out of the ordinary for this time of year. However, the clouds are moving very slowly from the northeast. She may be indeed on her way!!!
Usually I don't really pay that much attention to hurricanes (tornadoes are my special interest) but Sandy does have the potential to impact Michigan, which is rather unusual for an Atlantic hurricane. The forecasters are saying that winds could be hurricane strength 500 miles from the core--which means if Sandy comes ashore around Washington, D.C. and heads northwest as expected, we may see some pretty windy weather here in the next two days. What a lot of people don't realize is that Washington. D.C. and the Atlantic coast is closer to Southwest Michigan than parts of the Upper Peninsula.
Which got me thinking about hurricane tracks. I went online and looked up historic hurricane tracks and found that Michigan is far more likely to have remnants of Gulf hurricanes track through than Atlantic hurricanes. This seems surprising given the distance from the Gulf, but apparently the jet stream has something to do with it. The last Atlantic hurricane-derived storm to track through here was Hurricane Connie in 1955 which went up Lake Huron and fizzled out up by Sault Sainte Marie. Ontario is far more likely to be hit. Given that we are only about 500 miles from the Atlantic any hurricane-derived storm that makes it way this far inland will still be packing quite a wallop. So it is probably a good thing that they don't come this far.
So will Sandy do what Connie did and come through here? If the wind starts coming from the northeast that might well be an indication that she is on her way. This will be real interesting to watch weather-wise. When Ike came through in 2008 from the Gulf he spawned several weak out of season tornadoes. One of them was a major topic of discussion at Skywarn training because it was so unusual. This was the one I saw. I am not expecting any tornadoes this time. But if Sandy holds together long enough to come through here she should have a much more organized weather pattern than Ike and the rain bands should be even more noticeable.
Right now it is cold and cloudy but nothing out of the ordinary for this time of year. However, the clouds are moving very slowly from the northeast. She may be indeed on her way!!!
