Hurricane Sandy hit New York City on 29 October 2012 with winds at 100 miles per hour and storm surges up to 14 feet. Ninety percent of Long Island and Manhattan lost power during Hurricane Sandy. The storm killed 53 people, destroyed many low-lying homes and businesses, and caused 19 billion US dollars in public and private economic losses, making it the most expensive hurricane to hit New York City and the United States’ second costliest hurricane. Hurricane Sandy’s damaging quality lies in its structure, which National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration meteorologists described as the structure of a “Frankenstorm.” A day before Hurricane Sandy hit New York, the hurricane experienced extratropical transition: a shift from tropical air near the storm’s core to cold upper-level air as a source of energy. While most extratropical storms veer off to sea at higher latitude and lose their core’s structure and power, Hurricane Sandy instead veered directly west to New York and did not lose its core. This resulted in an extremely powerful storm with hurricane force winds extending from its center to its edges.
Contributed by Natalie Amend
Course: Modern Global Environmental History
Instructor: Dr. Wilko Graf von Hardenberg
University of Wisconsin–Madison, US