I beg to differ with Jim
Posted by
Gianmarc on 11/2/2012, 5:33 pm
Jim makes the argument in his most recent tropical update video that comparisons between the 1938 hurricane and Sandy are inaccurate. I beg to differ.
Of course the 1938 storm was worse for Long Island and the eastern half of new England--all points that found themselves within the right-front quad of that storm. However, Sandy undoubtedly is the worst hurricane ever to affect the New York metropolitan area. Sandy recorded the lowest barometric pressure ever registered in the northeast in the 940-945 mb range. At its peak intensity as a cat 5 160 mph storm out in the Atlantic, the 1938 storm got no lower than 938 mb and had a higher pressure than Sandy when it came ashore despite higher winds.
Additionally, Sandy created the highest storm surge ever recorded in New York City at nearly 14 feet. The devastation in Staten Island alone is enough to document that this was not just a once-in-a-lifetime hurricane, but really the first hurricane of its kind ever to strike New York City in recorded history. Obviously the same is true of Atlantic City and really most, if not all, of the New Jersey coastline.
Perhaps the point really is not that comparisons between these two storms are inaccurate, but rather that they are irrelevant. Perhaps it's a comparison between apples and oranges. The 1938 storm's trajectory into New England from south to north made it a classic Long Island/New England hurricane. Sandy was anything but, with her east-to-west trajectory making her not just a Long Island/New England hurricane but also a distinctly New York metropolitan area hurricane the likes of which have not been approached since 1821, and even that storm--a cat 2 that swept directly over NYC--did not register the kind of surge and pressure Sandy did.
The portions of the northeast directly affected by Sandy had it at least as bad as portions of the northeast directly affected by the 1938 storm. The one obvious difference there is in loss of life, with something like 600 lives lost throughout New England in 1938 compared to a still-staggering total hovering around the 100 mark with Sandy.
As someone born and raised in Brooklyn who also spent years living in Manhattan as well as the Bronx, I am intimately familiar with the terrain there and throughout the city. The things I am hearing and seeing from friends and family up there--and reports documenting official surge totals and pressure readings during the storm--leave me with no doubt that this was indeed the worst hurricane ever to strike the areas directly affected by Sandy's landfall on the Jersey coast. |
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I beg to differ with Jim - Gianmarc, 11/2/2012, 5:33 pm Post A Reply
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