14 DAY TRIAL // Recent data provided by the US National Hurricane Center warns that, either by the end of this day or by Tuesday at the latest, Hurricane Sandy will have succeeded in spreading across one third of the entire US territory.
While authorities are doing their best in minimizing damages, researchers are trying to figure out why it is exactly that this year's Frankenstorm grew to be this big and threatening.
According to one specialist working with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, one reason is that hurricane Sandy switched from being a tropical cyclone to being an extra-tropical one, Live Science informs us.
Thus, whereas tropical cyclones “work” by transferring heat from the surface of the ocean to the atmosphere, extra-tropical cyclones are fueled by the difference in temperature between rather large regions.
More precisely, hurricane Sandy comes as a result of the northwestern cold air coming together with the southeastern warm one, and will only get more powerful as it taps into the air coming from northeast US.
Specialists also explain that the warm, moist air in the Caribbean region also played its part in upping this storm's intensity from the very first moments in which it began to develop and grow.
According to the same source, hurricane Sandy must now be listed as the second largest Atlantic cyclone since 1988, seeing how its hurricane-force winds extend over 280 km (175 miles) and its storm-force winds cover 835 km (520 miles).
It is expected that as many as 50-60 million people will be affected by this storm, but the US National Hurricane Center warns that some parts of the country's eastern coastline will be hit harder than others.
Presently, the US National Weather Service asks that American citizens living on the east coast visit weather.gov, type in their zip code and get accurate information concerning how they will be affected by this Frankenstorm.
As well as this, authorities saw fit to evacuate several communities and moved the people inhabiting them to higher grounds in order to avoid human casualties, and several public transit systems have been closed.