Hurricane Sandy: 10 Years Later

• 4th costliest hurricane in the United States with approximately $70 billion in damages (Source:  NHC )
• At least 147 deaths in the Atlantic Basin, 72 deaths occurred in the Middle Atlantic and Northeast regions (Source:  NHC )
• $19 billion in damages in New York City and 43 deaths (Source:  NYC Comptroller )
• At least 650,000 houses either damaged or destroyed. (Source:  NHC )
• About 8.5 million customers lost power, some went without power for weeks or even months. (Source:  NHC )

Breaches are channels, or inlets, connecting ocean waters to bay waters which form during powerful storms. Hurricane Sandy created three breaches along Fire Island, the south shore of Long Island. Two of these breaches were immediately closed after the storm, but one breach still remains open ten years later. The breach has become known as the "new" Old Inlet. This section of beach was once an inlet between 1763-1827, hence the reason for the name of "new" Old Inlet. The original inlet was closed up around 1827. Source: Town Of Brookhaven Suffolk County NY

Below are before and after photos showing the new opening on Fire Island. Swipe the image left or right to display the comparison.

Although landfall occurred in New Jersey, states further south and further west in the Mid-Atlantic region also experienced impacts. Across the region, there were impacts from storm surge, high winds, and heavy rain. The highest Sandy rainfall total in the United States was near Bellevue, Maryland where 12.83 inches of rain were recorded. Several streams reached minor flood levels leading to localized flooding. Storm surge as high as 3 to 5 feet occurred in Delaware and North Carolina. In some areas, this was further compounded by the heavy rainfall. A 100 ft fishing pier in Ocean City, Maryland was destroyed and moderate to major beach erosion occurred at several locations along the Mid-Atlantic coast. Additionally, the high winds led to widespread tree damage and power outages. In Pennsylvania, 1.2 million customers lost power during the storm.

After Sandy transitioned into an extratropical cyclone and came onshore in southern New Jersey around 8 PM EDT on Monday October 29th, 2012, it merged with an upper-level trough of low pressure resulting in a westward motion across Pennsylvania. The center of the low pressure reached western PA late Tuesday and began to slowly move away from the area on Wednesday. 

Abundant tropical moisture combined with strong forcing from the trough and a very tight pressure gradient, between the deep low moving westward and the strong high pressure over the Upper Midwest, to result in persistent heavy rainfall and damaging winds in northern Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania. 

The northerly winds were especially strong along the shoreline of Lake Erie due to the unobstructed flow and the deeper mixing heights over the warm water. This caused the highest winds to occur across the lakeshore counties of northern Ohio, where 65-70 mph gusts were common on Monday evening into early Tuesday morning (October 29-30). The strong winds caused extensive tree damage and widespread power outages. Many of the trees were uprooted due to the saturated ground and the fact that strong winds from a north and northeast direction are uncommon. The winds even caused structural damage to some buildings. The Cleveland metro area was particularly hard hit. The impacts resulted in numerous school closures (some for multiple days) and the closure of Cleveland Hopkins Airport. Over 180,000 residents in the greater Cleveland area lost power. It took more than a week for power to be restored in some parts of the region.

In addition to the damage over land, the high winds wreaked havoc on docks and local marinas. Storm Force winds, over 50 knots, from the north and northeast generated waves of 15 to 18 feet on the south shore of Lake Erie.

Water levels offshore of Cleveland, OH rose to nearly 3 feet above low water datum (a nautical reference mark). This was 1 to 2 feet above recent levels. Before and after the storm, readings were just under 20 inches. The huge waves and water level rises destroyed numerous docks and heavily damaged or sunk dozens of boats at area marinas that were not yet stored away for the winter. 

During this period of damaging winds, late Monday through early Tuesday (October 29-30), the persistent rainfall added up. Rainfall between 8 AM EDT Monday and 8 AM EDT Tuesday (October 29 and 30) averaged 1.5 to 3.5 inches from north-central Ohio through northwest Pennsylvania, with lesser amounts of around 0.5 inches in northwest Ohio. The heaviest rainfall occurred just inland of Lake Erie from north-central Ohio to points east, due to frictional convergence and upslope flow just inland from the lakeshore. Relatively warm air above 850mb limited instability downwind of the lake, but some weak instability below 850mb was present over the relatively warm lake and contributed to enhanced rainfall in the upslope areas downwind of the lake. This rainfall was especially problematic, because during the weekend leading up to Sandy (October 26-28) a continental mid-latitude cyclone and associated cold front moved slowly across the Great Lakes and produced widespread rainfall of 0.5 to 2.0 inches. By the time Sandy’s heavy rain arrived, the ground was already very saturated. The additional rainfall from Sandy led to flooding along rivers in northern Ohio. The Cuyahoga River reached major flood stage. The Huron, Vermilion, Chagrin, and Black Rivers reached minor to moderate flood stage. Along the Cuyahoga River, the worst flooding occurred in the Valley View area where many roads were blocked and basements became inundated. With strong winds and large waves forcing water levels along the south shore of Lake Erie to rise, rivers were not draining as efficiently. The combination of lake-induced flooding and river flooding from rainfall resulted in flooding in the towns of Willoughby, Ohio and Vermilion, Ohio, where homes near the mouth of the rivers had become inundated. Rain continued for the remainder of the week as the influence of the low lingered.

On the outskirts of the  precipitation shield  late Monday night into Tuesday (October 29-30), snow fell in central Ohio from Findlay to Mansfield, and Columbus through Chillicothe. The Mansfield Airport reported 2.5 inches of snow, with amounts of up to inches also reported in Galion. Snow in northern Ohio generally added up to less than one inch of slushy accumulation, where snow fell at all, though some slightly higher amounts did occur in the Central Highlands region.

While wind impacts across the Central Appalachians were not as significant as in other regions, there were some noteworthy wind gusts on the evening of October 29th into the morning of October 30th. Wind gusts of 40-60 mph occurred at some locations during this time-frame, particularly across the eastern and northern portions of the Central Appalachians. This was caused by the tightening pressure gradient as Sandy moved up the eastern seaboard and turned inland.