Let me say this plainly so that nobody misunderstands ...
Sandy was a category 1 hurricane.
Let me repeat that.
Sandy was a category 1 hurricane.
To be a hurricane, a tropical storm must have winds in the 74, and a category 1 hurricane's range goes up to 95 mph. Sandy made landfall with 80 MPH winds.
It gained some subtropical characteristics when it collided with a strong autumn cold front. This is not the first time a hurricane has done this. And it won't be the last time.
It is true that the storm grew to a massive size, but this was due to its metamorphasis from a storm with mainly tropical characteristics to a storm with the mechanics of much larger subtropical winter storms as it entrained cold air and gained the favorable development environment from its position on the lee side of a strong trough.
It's not due to higher temperatures due to man's CO2 emissions.
The devastation is largely due to the geography of the coastline it hit and the width of the hurricane force wind field. And that width, again, had more to do with the metamorphasis into a subtropical system.
The most dramatic devastation was due to a fire. Not destruction by the kinds of winds we saw with Andrew, which was a category 5.
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