Hurricane Sandy may slam into U.S. East Coast as Halloween week "Frankenstorm"

Updated 9:48 PM ET

WASHINGTON An unusual nasty mix of a hurricane and a winter storm that forecasters are now calling "Frankenstorm" is likely to blast most of the East Coast next week, focusing the worst of its weather mayhem around New York City and New Jersey.

U.S. government forecasters on Thursday upped the odds of a major weather mess, now saying there's a 90 percent chance that the East will get steady gale-force winds, heavy rain, flooding and maybe snow starting Sunday and stretching past Halloween on Wednesday.

• Hurricane Sandy makes landfall in Bahamas
• Hurricane Sandy roars into Cuba
• Hurricane Sandy prompts storm watch in Florida

Meteorologists say it is likely to cause $1 billion in damages.

The storm is a mix of Hurricane Sandy, now in the Caribbean as a Category 2 storm, as well as an early winter storm in the West and a blast of arctic air from the North. They're predicted to collide and park over the country's most populous coastal corridor and reach as far inland as Ohio.

Hurricane Sandy lashed the central Bahamas on Thursday night with violent winds and torrential rains, after raging through the Caribbean where it caused at least 21 deaths and forced postponement of a hearing at the Guantanamo naval base on Cuba.

Play Video

Hurricane Sandy looks to become menace for East Coast

The hurricane part of the storm is likely to come ashore somewhere in New Jersey on Tuesday morning, said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecaster Jim Cisco. But this is a storm that will affect a far wider area, so people all along the East have to be wary, Cisco said.

Coastal areas from Florida to Maine will feel some effects, mostly from the hurricane part, he said, and the other parts of the storm will reach inland from North Carolina northward.

"It will get broader. It won't be as intense, but its effects will be spread over a very large area," the hurricane center's chief hurricane specialist, James Franklin, said Thursday.

One of the more messy aspects of the expected storm is that it just won't leave. The worst of it should peak early Tuesday, but it will stretch into midweek, forecasters say. Weather may start clearing in the mid-Atlantic Nov. 1 and Nov. 2 in the Northeast, Cisco said.

"It's almost a weeklong, five-day, six-day event," Cisco said Thursday from NOAA's northern storm forecast center in near Washington. "It's going to be a widespread serious storm."

President Barack Obama has been briefed on the hurricane and the White House is urging people in the storm's path to listen to local officials and monitor weather reports. Spokesman Jay Carney says federal emergency management officials have been working with local officials to prepare.

With every hour, meteorologists are getting more confident that this storm is going to be bad and they're able to focus their forecasts more.

17 Photos

Hurricane Sandy

The New York area could see around 5 inches of rain during the storm, while there could be snow southwest of where it comes inland, Cisco said.

Both private and federal meteorologists are calling this a storm that will likely go down in the history books.

"We don't have many modern precedents for what the models are suggesting," Cisco said.

It is likely to hit during a full moon when tides are near their highest, increasing coastal flooding potential, NOAA forecasts warn. And with some trees still leafy and the potential for snow, power outages could last to the Nov. 6 Election Day, some meteorologists fear.

[yourdeadmeat69]

What is this, a slow news week? It's a CAT 1 storm, not a Cat 5 like Andrew 1993 style. Projected 1 Billion in damages versus that 1993 storms 26 Billion ($50 Billion in today's fractured dollars).

It's not a phart in the wind, but it's not the end of the world. Get some bottled water and kick back for two or three days.

The worse part is that kids might miss Halloween.


Now that's a tragedy.

[carolo43]

I hope this isn't like the last storm that sit there for days and days and just pounded the area. A catagory 1 does enough damage without lingering like a battering ram.

I do hope everyone votes early (for Obama) then gets the heck out of there and stays safe.

[420LegalizeIt420]

you mise well just go play out in the storm and die moron,because with obama reelected president the country is over. what do you think is going to happen 12/21/2012? thanks to obama china is going cash in our bonds and then invade us, and yes obama is apart of it and america will be a policed country with no freedoms and rights and we will all be thrown in concentration camps. obama is nothing but a terrorist. and if this doesnt happen 12/21/2012 guess what in 2016? derp. be smart don't vote for him. do some research you imbacel i was in homeland security for 7 years.

[ManeatingCouch]

So 500 people's lives are worth less than $1Billion? Sounds about right. x3

[RickOltman]

Hurricane Landslide hits Washington, DC.

[Kay8197]

I hope this keeps the dems busy and they forget to vote!

[polo1233]

As a horrible storm approaches...that's ALL you have to say? A presidential race is MORE IMPORTANT then people loosing their possessions, maybe even LIVES? ...disgusting.

[polo1233]

You are a disgusting human, more worried about your favored party then HUMAN LIVES? pathetic.

[tillypick]

Could Hurricane Sandy make or break Barack Obama's re-election? http://linkd.in/R6Dcrm

[Zardoz333]

It's Mother Nature's revenge for neither candidate mentioning climate change during any of the debates ;)

[cammer3]

http://www.jillstein.org/climate
which debates did you watch? Democracy Now!'s expanded debates?
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLneypbodq-jaSwViO8Mb2mxm4Zd6KQOwZ
or the "free and equal" alternate ones?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEMi9-WZQqU
and another coming up...
http://rt.com/usa/news/rt-third-party-debate-stein-249/

[Aardvark69er]

'Superstorms' are predicted with Great Foreboding by the global whiners. Any truth to it, or is this kind of stuff just something that Nature churns up once in a great while when she gets bored?

[jeannutson]

The aftermath of this hurricane is likely to contribute to the already fragile economy due to the damages it could potentially cause to both property and investments.

[Brittanyjba]

well after this hurricane the gas prices will be going way up yaaaay grrr not its 3.18 here now

[TGuiles]

Wow. The east coast is likely facing over $1 billion dollars in damages, likely the loss of lives, power outages for weeks, and you are worried about gas prices?

[Kassi0985]

Seriously your worries about your gas price going up from 3.19? Count yourself lucky and stop complaining. It's 3.99 where I am now.