Sandy is no ordinary hurricane

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) - As we continue to track Sandy it’s very interesting to see how she is not like most of the hurricanes that we’ve seen move into the Northeast.

Her track itself is highly unusual, to have a hurricane that initially looked like it would go out to sea but now is projected to make a hard left turn is something that is very rare.

You may remember Hurricanes Gloria, Bob, of course Irene and Tropical Storm Floyd. They brought us mainly rain and some wind. With those storms we were on the left side of the storm, that usually means we see the heaviest rain. The strongest winds are on the right side. We’ll be on the right side of Sandy which will mean we’ll see the strong gusty winds and less rain.

Sandy is classified as a category 1 hurricane but has an extremely low central pressure. That combined with a large high pressure system to the north, the one that is basically turning her into the coast, will help to strengthen her winds. That’s why we’re expecting the winds to be more of a problem than they normally would be with a weakening category 1 hurricane.

Also, when Sandy makes landfall she won’t be classified as a hurricane even though she will likely still have winds around 75MPH. This is because she will be losing her tropical characteristics and taking on more of the characteristics of a winter storm. She’ll be classified as a post-tropical cyclone.

That is why it does look like now our main concern will be for strong, gusty winds that will likely lead to power outages. The strongest winds will be Monday night. I still don’t expect the kind of power outages we saw during the October snowstorm.