Damaging Wind, Flooding Rain Aims for DC

By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist

October 28,2012; 10:45AM,EDT

Sandy will bring damage and disruptions to the Washington, D.C area.
Conditions will deteriorate in into Sunday night with the height of the storm Monday into Tuesday.
At this time AccuWeather.com meteorologists expect wind gusts in the neighborhood of 60 to 70 mph in the city with the greatest frequency of high gusts on the Eastern Shore and the Atlantic coast beaches.
Gusts this strong will down trees, power lines, send loose objects airborne and loosen panes of glass in tall buildings. Walking through city streets will be difficult and dangerous. Avoid walking or parking under trees. Large branches can come down with no notice.

A general 2 to 4 inches of rain will fall with locally higher amounts on the Eastern Shore and in the mountains to the west. Enough rain will fall in the local area to bring flash, urban and small stream flooding.
The full moon Monday will amplify tide levels, but the track of and wind flow around Sandy will not push water into the northern Chesapeake Bay like Isabel did. Sandy is pushing the Atlantic toward the lower Chesapeake Bay, so minor flooding at times of high tide is forecast in the upper reaches of the Bay.

Sandy is forecast by AccuWeather.com to make landfall in New Jessey. However, since this will be such a large storm in terms of surface area, effects will be more than a hurricane hitting a small area.
There will be major impact due to wind and flooding, not only in the Washington-Baltimore, area, but as far north as New York City into portions of New England and as far south as eastern North Carolina.
It is possible the New York metro area experiences the worst of the storm in terms of storm surge flooding and wind damage, because of the angle and location of the storm striking the coast.