Hurricane Sandy 2012 Projected Path: Sandy Time-Lapse Shows Stroms Course

Hurricane Sandy Barreling Into The East Coast

Hurricane Sandy, the huge super storm that has the nation talking, is now gaining strength and moving in a northwestern direction at 18mph as it heads for a late Monday evening landfall in the southern part of New Jersey.

Current reports are that Sandy is expected to continue gaining strength has it approaches land. Sandy is currently packing maximum sustained winds of 90mph with gusts up to 115mph.

Rather than the intensity being the problem (as is the case with most hurricanes), Sandy’s problem lies in the vast size of the storm. Rainfall is a huge area of concern as there is potential for 5 to 8-inches of rain over a 48-hour period. This amount of rainfall could cause widespread flooding that would devastate the area.

The worst case scenario according to the NOAA is that the expected rain, combined with snowfall in West Virginia, could endanger as many as 50 million people for several days.

NASA writes:

“This time-lapse animation shows Hurricane Sandy from the vantage point of geostationary orbit—35,800 km (22,300 miles) above the Earth. The animation shows Sandy on October 28, 2012, from 7:15 to 6:26 EDT. Light from the changing angles of the sun highlight the structure of the clouds. The images were collected by NOAA’s GOES-14 satellite. The “super rapid scan” images—one every minute from 7:15 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. EDT—reveal details of the storm’s motion.”

Hurricane Sandy Time-Lapse, October 28, 2012, Super Rapid Scan