All Over Albany

This is Sandy

The forecasted track, as of 11 am Thursday.

Here's the situation: There's a hurricane in the Caribbean -- Hurricane Sandy -- and, at the moment, the forecasted track of the storm including hitting the northeastern United State sometime next Tuesday. By that point, according to forecasts, Sandy would be a tropical storm.

Yeah, that sounds like uncomfortably like Irene.

From the NWS weather discussion for this area, which notes there's still "considerable uncertainty" about the path of the storm:

The bottom line from looking at all suites of guidance is that some atypical storm system is most likely to impact a large area of the Northeast U.S. early next week...with the most likely time for greatest effects to be Monday and/or Tuesday...with lingering effects possibly into Wed or Thu.

For our region...it appears that a potentially prolonged heavy rain event could evolve during the mon-wed time frame...although exact amts...and areas of most intense rain remain uncertain. A period of strong winds also appears increasingly likely...with the greatest threat across higher elevations...although valley areas certainly will not be exempt from a significant wind threat either...depending on the eventual track/evolution of the storm system.

Colder air may eventually wrap into the storm/s circulation at some point later next week...so some snow or snow showers can not be ruled out in portions of the region by next Wed.

In other words: right now, it's looking like there could be heavy rain Monday into Wednesday, with strong wind. And depending how temperatures go, that rain could turn into snow.

So, that would make it... a snowicane? A tropical snow storm? Whatever it's called... eek.

By the way: While a storm like this would be unusual for this area, the end of October is still considered the peak of hurricane season in the Atlantic.

map: National Weather Service