Albany Weather Fight Next Week: Watch for Sandy's Hook

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

October 23,2012; 6:00PM,EDT

 

 

 

Sandy will drive through the Caribbean the next few days. However, while Sandy could take the fight to Bermuda next week, there is still the danger of a last-minute left hook.
Chilly autumn weather is on hold this week, much as it was prior to the formation of the Perfect Storm of 1991.
The period of consternation and concern for potential damaging and disruptive weather impacts in Albany and the Hudson Valley spans Monday to Wednesday of next week.

A hurricane or hybrid storm remaining offshore would have minimal direct impact on upstate New York. Most likely, cool air and blustery conditions would sweep in with spotty showers in this scenario.
However, there is a danger of the storm being captured and pulled westward by another system approaching from the Midwest next week. Sandy would undergo a transition from a hurricane to a hybrid or non-tropical system, but the storm would retain every bit of a hurricane's intensity.
Such a left hook could not only bring the fight to the backyard, but could deliver a knockout blow.
As the storm crashes ashore with this scenario, hurricane-force gusts would sweep inland downing scores of trees and causing widespread power outages over New England and New York. Heavy rain combined with fallen leaves would lead to significant flash and urban flooding. There would be travel disruptions matching that of a giant nor'easter.
Depending on exactly where the storm where to track would determine if heavy snow would fell on the mountains of central Pennsylvania versus western New York. In this scenario, snow would not fall on the Catskills, Adirondacks, Green and White mountains. Instead, warm air would sweep in from the ocean.
A third scenario allows Sandy to escape out to sea, but forms a new storm near the coast with more average nor'easter conditions in Albany and much of the Northeast later in the period next week. A less intense storm like this, tracking near the coast could bring snow to the nearby mountains in the region.