Sandy's sheer strength is due to a convergence of factors. As one storm moved west from the Bahamas, a system known as a midlatitude trough moved across the country from the west expecting to add energy. Plus, "a blast of arctic air is expected to sweep down through the Canadian Plains just as the two storms converge," the New York Times reported. Monday's full moon will add to high tide levels.
Greg Postel of the Weather Channel describes it this way: "It's almost like we have a hurricane-like feature inside of a Nor'easter."
By Monday morning, public transit systems in New York, New Jersey and Washington, DC had all shut down and hundreds of thousands had been ordered to evacuate including all of Coney Island and Lower Manhattan, low-lying areas in Philadelphia and many coastal cities.
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