Hurricane Sandy: Why Full Moon Makes "Frankenstorm" More Monstrous
Gravitational effect combines with odd path and more to stir up storm surge.
Sandy should make landfall on the New Jersey coast tonight as a Category 1 hurricane, with winds of at least 75 miles (120 kilometers) an hour.
"I think it will be catastrophic, to tell the truth," said Keith Blackwell, a meteorologist at the University of South Alabama's Coastal Weather Research Center. "I've never seen anything like it that far north that takes such a hard westward turn into a major metropolitan area." (Read "Utilities Brace for Power Outages as Hurricane Sandy Barrels Ashore.")
Hurricane Sandy's most devastating effects are likely to be caused by its storm surge, a mound of water piled up and pushed ahead by the storm's winds.
Most hurricanes approach the U.S. East Coast from the south, meaning
