Well I feel prepared I wonder how everyone else around me feels.




Oh....Oooooh v__v.......

Yes that is what use to be the flashlight isle at my local home depot.......Not a single thing to be found, They did how ever pull a few cases maybe say 2 headlamp cases and 1 penlight case and put them on a table up front....thats about it...And as you can see the only things left in the isle are some cellphone pouches and....Oh.....the crappy penlight i just bought a few days ago...I guess no one wants them.....

That's pretty funny.

I'd take a picture of outside right now, but other than a slightly chilly, drizzly night, there's not much to see. Supposedly around 1am it'll kick off.

This storm is so slow moving that the weather reports keep postponing the debut - supposedly this morning was supposed to be the start of the bad weather.

Good luck to all the ETSers in the affected areas. Hopefully this will somehow end up just being a close-call/dry-run for all y'all!
-Blast

I don't want to hijack the East Coast Storm thread too much, however that was a huge quake on Saturday night. Had the quake hit down here (about 400 miles south), the damage and destruction would of been severe in my area which has a much higher population of 2.6 million. To give some comparisons, last night's quake was not much lower in strength then the 1906 San Francisco and was almost 1 point higher on the Richter scale then the 1989 San Fran quake.

For those of you waiting for the East Coast storm, be safe and put all your learned skills and also your supplies to good use if and when needed.

Be safe everyone! For once I'm glad I live in South Dakota!

It doesn't look to be especially intense, but all tropical cyclones pump a *lot* of water. The storm won't linger but there may be some cases of people who try to drive through puddles that turn out to be 20 feet deep...

Another point - this will run head-first into the jet stream and a Canadian cold front, then turn hard right and exit over northern New England, and a lot of the water may fall in non-liquid form...

We're expecting power outages this afternoon but I have everything set for that. I am concerned about the basement flooding. Seems around here (before I moved here) in 09, they had days of rain with strong winds that caused the rain to blow sideways. That somehow resulted in almost everyone on my street having water in their basements, my house included.

Odd thing is, my neighborhood was built in the 50s and the homes are rock solid. Our place had never flooded until that storm. Eitherwaay, Ive got all my gear off the floor.

So far today its just light rain, wind and nasty. News said southern NH will get its share of Sandy tonight.

Looks like I'll finally get a chance to read more Thoreau by candle light for fun tonight

At 6:40am the rain started coming down here outside of Newark, NJ. Wind isn't too bad right now. It's expected to keep getting worse and worse until about 4:00pm today.

Some impressive things about this storm:

1. Lowest recorded pressure for our area ever. Shattering a record from 1914.

2. Storm is actually increasing in strength, which is something we never see up here. It's expected to be about 90mph sustained at landfall with gusts over 100mph.

Latest precip forecast map:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/liveblog/files/2012/10/Sandy_rainfall2.gif


Walked my dog at 6:00a - just a normal rain and light wind at that time, even used an umbrella. Had seen an enormous band of yellow and red on the radar looming to the east so knew that 6a walk was going to be as good as it gets today.

Sitting here savoring electrical power and a java press full of hot hazelnut coffee.

Outside the day will steadily deteriorate and the worst for DC is expected to be around 2:00 a.m. Tuesday.

Be safe, everyone. Stay home if you can. For your safety and everyone else's (especially first responders who have to risk their own lives to save others who get in trouble).

On that last note, am watching to see what happens with that "pirate ship" sinking off the Outer Banks, NC, with 16 people now in life rafts in those treacherous seas and the U.S. Coast Guard trying to save them.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-5754...-off-n.c-coast/


.

It looks like the brunt of the storm is going to hit just west of us, on the other side of the Toronto region, but we're still expecting high winds and rain, and potential power failures. Halloween decorations are not out, patio furniture has been brought in and all the batteries in the house have been changed or charged. Home supplies are readay, office bug-in bag is ready, vehicle kits are ready and gas tanks are full. We're as ready as we're going to be.

We do have a Cub Scout/Beaver Scout meeting tonight, that's going ahead as scheduled. We're going to take the opportunity to remind the kids to stay away from creeks and rivers on rainy days like this, even if their area doesn't seem to be getting very much rain.