The "Perfect Storm" of 1991
By Richard Sparago on October 25, 2012, 10:49pm Last modified: October 26, 2012, 9:37am
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As hurricane Sandy bears down on the northeast, we're hearing many comparisons to the "Perfect Storm" of 1991. Let's take a look at the storm from 1991, which remarkably affected our part of the country exactly 21 years ago (October 26-November 1, 1991).
According to David Vallee of the National Weather Service, three weather systems came together with deadly results.The first was what Vallee called "a little, innocuous" low-pressure system that formed over the Great Lakes, then followed the usual path of North American weather: west to east, from Chicago to Maine, and on past Nova Scotia.
En route, it met the second piece of energy: A cold high-pressure system drafting down from Canada. The two systems combined into a storm in the North Atlantic, off Nova Scotia's coast.
The third piece of energy was what made the "perfect" storm so perfect: a late-season hurricane, Grace, coming up from the south. The three systems joined forces and created a deep low pressure system off the eastern coast of Canada. The clash of systems over the Atlantic Ocean caused 40-to-80-foot waves on October 30—unconfirmed reports put the waves at more than 100 feet in some locations. This massive surf caused extensive coastal flooding, particularly in Massachusetts; damage was also sustained as far south as Jamaica and as far north as Newfoundland.
The damage estimate from the perfect storm was $200 million. Interestingly, the storm retrograded over northeastern Canada, then reformed in the North Atlantic, actually developing into a hurricane on November 1! The hurricane was never named, so as not to cause confusion, due to its unusually northern birthplace. Also, the fishing vessel, Andrea Gail, was lost at sea during the Perfect Storm, and that was the inspiration for the movie "The Perfect Storm" in 2000.
Some of this sounds familiar, right? Sandy is going to move north, experience a blocking high-pressure system, and interact with a deepening trough coming down from Canada. The troubling part is that while the Perfect Storm was mainly off shore, Sandy will likely come over land.
Please stay tuned to WXedge and WTNH for further details on Sandy. It will be interesting, when all is said and done, to compare Sandy to the Perfect Storm.
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