Long Friday Spent on Sandy

Up at 3:30, at work at 5:00, look at weather forecast at 6:00, say a couple of expletives, look at the weather on a different website, repeat, then sent a message to the IT team suggesting that we may need to start preparations for what is now known as the "Super Storm": SANDY!

I won't bore you with all of the details of meetings, getting hotel reservations, and various conference calls. We got everything hopefully organized and I was able to leave work at 6:30 p.m. I ate dinner, then tortured the cat with this halloween hat for about 5 minutes until I got a half way decent blip...

I will have to work a little bit this weekend and then move to a company paid hotel on Monday if the hurricane continues to be a threat to our area and then stay in place for up to three days... Two of the four dogs will go to a kennel on Sunday and the other two will stay at the hotel. Here is our wonderful forecast as of 20:00 EDT:
THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE MARYLAND PORTION OF THE
CHESAPEAKE BAY...TIDAL POTOMAC RIVER...AND ADJACENT COUNTIES IN
CENTRAL MARYLAND AND NORTHERN VIRGINIA AS WELL AS THE DISTRICT OF
COLUMBIA.

.DAY ONE...TONIGHT

HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY

THE NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER FORECASTS HURRICANE SANDY TO TRACK
TO THE NORTH-NORTHEAST TO A POSITION WELL OFF THE NORTH CAROLINA
COAST SUNDAY NIGHT...BEFORE SHIFTING TO THE NORTHWEST AND MOVING TOWARD
THE NEW JERSEY AND DELAWARE COASTS MONDAY INTO TUESDAY. THE TRACK
OF SANDY COULD BRING SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS TO THE REGION SUNDAY
NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY.

IMPACTS INCLUDE...

FLOODING FROM HEAVY RAIN: THE HEAVIEST RAIN WILL AFFECT CENTRAL
MARYLAND...WASHINGTON DC...AND NORTHERN VIRGINIA FROM SUNDAY NIGHT
THROUGH TUESDAY. THE AMOUNT OF RAINFALL WILL DEPEND ON THE TRACK
OF THE STORM. RISES ON RIVERS COULD CONTINUE FLOODING POTENTIALLY
WEDNESDAY INTO FRIDAY.

DAMAGING WINDS: IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE HEAVY RAINFALL...STRONG
WINDS ARE EXPECTED SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. THESE WINDS WILL
LIKELY RESULT IN DOWNED TREES AND POWER LINES. AT THIS TIME...THE
MOST LIKELY TIME FOR TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS APPEARS TO BE LATE
MONDAY INTO TUESDAY.

COASTAL FLOODING: PROLONGED EASTERLY FLOW AND A FULL MOON ARE
EXPECTED TO PRODUCE MINOR COASTAL FLOODING THIS WEEKEND. MORE
SIGNIFICANT COASTAL FLOODING IS POSSIBLE ON THE WESTERN SHORE OF
THE CHESAPEAKE BAY AND TIDAL POTOMAC RIVER SUNDAY NIGHT INTO
MONDAY...HOWEVER THIS WILL BE HEAVILY DEPENDENT OF THE TRACK OF
THE STORM.

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORIES ARE IN EFFECT OVER THE TIDAL POTOMAC RIVER
AND MARYLAND CHESAPEAKE BAY SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT. GALE AND
STORM WARNINGS MAY BECOME NECESSARY SUNDAY THROUGH TUESDAY.

CONTINUE TO MONITOR NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER PRODUCTS FOR
UPDATES ON THE TRACK OF SANDY.