You Can’t Make This Stuff Up…

In October 1997, emergency management officials in Westchester County, New York ran a hurricane simulation for their area.

The fictional storm was loosely based on the 1938 Long Island Express Hurricane, which caused extreme devastation on Long Island and in Westchester County.

The practice hurricane was set to come inland on Saturday evening, October 4th as a category two hurricane just east of New York City.

The advisories used in the drill were eerily predictive of what would happen just over fifteen years later as a very real and very serious Hurricane Sandy came ashore. The central pressure in the advisories 12 hours before landfall was 935 millibars. The maximum winds were similar. The track even curved around eastern North Carolina before turning toward the north.

But what made it really eerie was that the name of the practice hurricane. Can you guess what it was?

Sandy.

Here is some more information on the simulation.

Category: Headlines, Met 101/Weather History, Tropical