SANDY is now a hurricane, a Cat 1 storm hammering Jamaica with 80 mph winds and locally heavy rainfall up to 12”, some localized 20” in higher elevations. OK, right on schedule as forecast and now she will head toward Eastern Cuba tonight, and on to the Bahamas tomorrow as a tropical storm. Plus we do have another tropical storm. That’s TONY in the Central Atlantic with MAX winds at 50 mph and moving away fast. No worries there. What are SANDY’s impacts on the U.S.? Tropical storm watches have been issued for the East Coast of Florida and the Upper Florida Keys including Florida Bay for early Friday. SANDY will expand further in physical size, her wind fields over the Florida Coast up to the Georgia Coast early Saturday as she turns more to the northeast moving away. Several models expect waves 38-45 feet out in the open Western Atlantic. Some of that wave energy approaches our Georgia and South Carolina coasts Saturday and Sunday with a real risk of beach erosion as a result of this long fetch at a very destructive angle. After that, models do not agree. SANDY continues Sunday as a sub-tropical or extratropical storm. Most models take her to the northeast paralleling the U.S. Coastline eventually drifting closer to Bermuda. But three others, including the “favored” ECMWF European model, take the storm back into the Northeast across Long Island Monday and Tuesday. Remember the “Perfect Storm”? Hurricane Grace in 1991 matching up with a strong continental trough pushing offshore and that timed out with the full moon for incredible coastal flooding, 65-75 mph winds, and 13 deaths (and a hit movie, thank you George Clooney). In 2012, we may have a similar set-up with Hurricane SANDY still producing 60-70 mph winds merging with a strong upper-level trough crossing Pennsylvania on Sunday. And we have a full moon on Monday, which means higher tides. Strong storm surge, coastal flooding, and trees are still in-leaf knocking down power lines. Emergency managers in New England fear billions of dollars in damage. Yikes! As we watch what develops for the Northeast over the weekend, we will prepare for windier conditions here from SANDY. Wind gusts will pick up tomorrow, possibly an onshore shower, and wind gusts Friday up to 34 mph. Expect wind advisories, but all tropical advisories will stay away, no matter how the models play out toward the end of the weekend. So we will be OK. And watching what happens to SANDY.