Home
/
News & Media
/
Hurricane Central
/
Superstorm Sandy By The Numbers 10 Years Later
Superstorm Sandy By The Numbers 10 Years Later
Oct 31, 2024 11:25 PM

Sign up for the Morning Brief email newsletterto get weekday updates from The Weather Channel and our meteorologists.

S​uperstorm Sandy was both record-breaking and unusual.

Because of that, there are many facts and figures about its meteorology and impacts that live freshly in our minds 10 years later. Here's a look back at some of those notables by the numbers.

(Visit our Superstorm Sandy pagefor more coverage of the 10th anniversary.)

1​,000

Sandy is the on record based on the extent of its tropical storm force wind field. Those winds of 39 mph to 73 mph were about 1,000 miles in diameter at their maximum when the storm approached landfall on Oct. 29, 2012.

T​he large size of Sandy also set into motion many of its wide-reaching impacts like storm surge, strong winds, rain and even mountain snow.

Sandy's approximate wind field on Oct. 29, 2012, at 2 p.m. EDT.

(Source: National Hurricane Center)

4​

S​andy's late-season strike at such a far north latitude as well as its interaction with a strong jet stream disturbance means the National Weather Service had to issue a menagerie of alerts.

T​hose watches and warnings fell into four general buckets:

-​ High wind, including hurricane-force wind warnings along the coast.

-​ Flash flood and river flood for heavy rain.

-​ Coastal and lakeshore flooding for inundation along shorelines, even as far west as the Great Lakes.

-​ Winter storm and blizzard for heavy snow and strong winds in the Appalachians.

Alerts map from weather.gov on Oct. 29, 2012. Not all the alerts listed above are shaded because of overlapping of types.

(NOAA)

1​2.65

Sandy's massive wind field drove storm surge flooding from Florida to Maine, but it was the Northeast that bore the most destructive brunt.

In New York, in western Long Island Sound at Kings Point. C​onnecticut and New Jersey had maximum storm surges measured at 9.83 feet (Bridgeport) and 8.57 feet (Sandy Hook), respectively.

The feet of seawater pushed by Sandy into this part of the coastline contributed to catastrophic damage in some areas.

In this Friday, Nov. 9, 2012 photograph, the roller coaster from an amusement pier rests in the Atlantic Ocean in Seaside Heights, New Jersey, after the region was pounded by Superstorm Sandy. The coaster was eventually removed and rebuilt farther from the water.

(AP Photo/Mel Evans)

945

Superstorm Sandy didn't technically make landfall as a hurricane or tropical storm, but when it finally came ashore near Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the evening of Oct. 29, 2012, it did so .

That's exceptionally low pressure for a Northeast storm, but not quite as low as the infamous "Long Island Express" hurricane of 1938 (estimated 941 millibars).

All-time low pressure records were set in Philadelphia and Atlantic City, New Jersey, as well as other locations.

S​andy's extremely low pressure played a role in generating its large wind field, and therefore, its far-reaching impacts along the East Coast.

Surface pressure map of Sandy when it was about to push into the Jersey Shore. The blue lines are isobars, or lines of constant pressure.

(NOAA)

3​6

T​his might be the strangest number we associate with Sandy.

T​he superstorm's moisture collided with the higher elevations of the central and southern Appalachians, where just enough cold air was in place to produce up to in Richwood, West Virginia, and Wolf Laurel Mountain, North Carolina.

W​est Virginia was particularly hard hit by blizzard conditions, and the weight of the heavy, wet snow caused some structures to collapse.

Analysis of Sandy's snow totals.

(NOAA)

7​2

A​ total of 72 people lost their lives in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast because of direct impacts from Sandy. That's the most people directly killed by a tropical cyclone in the continental U.S. outside of the South since Agnes in 1972.

Storm surge alone was responsible for 41 of the deaths, according to the National Hurricane Center report. High winds contributed to another 20 fatalities.

Aerial view of storm surge destruction from Sandy in Mantoloking, New Jersey.

(NOAA)

8​1.9

D​amage from Sandy was estimated to cost $81.9 billion when adjusted for inflation.

T​hat ranks as the in NOAA's database of billion-dollar disasters.

K​atrina, Harvey and Maria are the only hurricanes to have a bigger price tag in U.S. records dating to 1980.

A​t this time, it's unknown if those rankings might change once the final cost of Hurricane Ian is settled.

Satellite view of Sandy as it moved northward off the East Coast on Oct. 28, 2012.

(NOAA)

8.5

P​ower outages blamed on Sandy impacted a cumulative 8.5 million customers. S​ome of those outages , the NHC report said.

Those extended power outages were blamed on 50 of Sandy's 87 indirect deaths, which are separate from the direct deaths mentioned earlier.

Indirect deaths are those not caused by wind or water during an ongoing storm, but rather happen because of other circumstances. They often occur in preparation for a storm or in the aftermath of one.

Hypothermia in cold weather, falls in the dark by senior citizens and carbon monoxide poisoning are some of the reasons for indirect deaths from power loss during the storm.

This Nov. 7, 2012, photo provided by the Central Park Conservancy shows limbs and trunks of trees that were destroyed or damaged by Superstorm Sandy stacked along Central Park's 102nd Street cross drive in New York. Nearly 10,000 were lost in New York City alone.

(AP Photo/Central Park Conservancy)

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, .

Comments
Welcome to zdweather comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Hurricane Central
Copyright 2023-2024 - www.zdweather.com All Rights Reserved