Sandy was one for N.J.'s record books

Posted: Nov. 4, 2012 12:40 am Updated: Mar. 30, 2015 5:00 pm


This one will go down in the New Jersey record books.

Superstorm Sandy will join the Vagabond Hurricane of 1903, the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962, Hurricane Irene of 2011 and the nearly dozen other storms that have pummeled their way into New Jersey history.

But, Frank Lombardo, president of the Hackettstown-based Weather Works, said that Superstorm Sandy, a hybrid nor'easter/hurricane that he'd rather call "an extra superstorm or the great superstorm," will likely top the list of worst storms on record.

"I doubt if I'll ever see a storm like this again," Lombardo said. "This is beyond the 100-year storm; this is a 5,000-year storm."

Sandy, a category-one hurricane that made landfall just south of Atlantic City on Monday night, destroyed large portions of the Jersey Shore with record-breaking storm surges and winds, but Lombardo said that what really pushes this storm into the record books will its massive size.

"Every single part of the state was impacted from High Point to Cape May," he said.



New Jersey has seen its fair share of tropical storms and snowstorms over the years, but it is rare that a hurricane makes a direct landfall on Jersey beaches. The last time this happened was a 1903 hurricane, which became known as the Vagabond Hurricane.

Like Sandy, this hurricane took its toll on Atlantic City on Sept. 16 when 80 mph winds whipped through the state. Boats were capsized, fishing piers and shore buildings were destroyed, and most of Atlantic City took a big hit.

The storm became even more historical because President Theodore Roosevelt survived it while vacationing on a yacht off the coast of Long Island.

Also in the record book, the Great Atlantic Hurricane in 1944 paralleled the coast of New Jersey and caused nine deaths, while an Ash Wednesday storm 18 years later killed 14 people in New Jersey, ripped away the Atlantic City's Steel Pier and caused the ocean to meet the bay on parts of Long Beach Island. Sandy, in comparison, has caused nearly 74 deaths across the East Coast, while Tropical Storm Irene killed 12.

Irene caused major flooding in Sussex County, but did not bring with it the hurricane-force winds that Sandy did. Sandy's winds tripled the amount of power outages in Sussex County that Irene did, and will likely lead to similar extended outages for well over a week.

"The effects of Hurricane Irene were not extensive in terms of wind, but there was flooding damage inland," Lombardo said.

Two hurricanes, Connie and Diane, ended a three-year drought in 1955, but also brought record flooding to the Delaware River. The hurricanes, just days apart, caused $4 million in damage to Sussex County, according to a 2005 column marking the 50th anniversary by New Jersey Herald columnist Jennie Sweetman.

"During the midnight onslaught dams were burst, homes inundated, small buildings washed away, cars stalled on flooded highways and thousands of cellars from Montague to Hopatcong filled with water," a 1955 New Jersey Herald article said. "Electric power and telephone service was disrupted in several places, more than 40 bridges were destroyed completely or weakened and miles of paved roads ripped out."

No lives were lost in Sussex County, but the hurricanes were some of the worst the county has seen.

Since New Jersey is not particularly known for hurricanes, some of the state's worst storms have actually been in the form of snow or nor'easters. A Halloween nor'easter, dubbed the perfect storm, caused major coastal and bay flooding on Oct. 31, 1991.

The Great Northeast Blizzard of January 1996 brought temperatures below zero and nearly 24 inches of new snow in Sussex County, according to Sussex County Weather Network's Nick Stefano.

"But, we already had a deep snow cover prior to this new snow and some places had 40 inches of snow on the ground," Stefano said.

A pre-Halloween snowstorm last October also caused widespread power outages for much of the state after trees covered in leaves snapped under the heavy weight of snow.

October storms have actually become more common. A nor'easter expected to hit next week could be the latest in the line of fall snowstorms.

"October has been an unusually stormy month in the last five years," Lombardo said. "Four out of the five years have had big storms in October. I have never seen that before."



Lombardo, and other meteorologists, agreed that Sandy is certainly an anomaly since a hurricane of that massive proportion and severity has never impacted the state.

"Obviously, the coastal damage is the worst that they have ever seen that has effected the Jersey Shore," Lombardo said.

Lombardo said that previous records for high tides were set by Hurricane Donna in September 1960, and then a nor'easter in December 1992.

"Both were eclipsed by this storm," Lombardo said. "And, typically when you break record high tides, you break it by just a few inches..., but this time, we blew the record high tide away."

For comparison, Lombardo said that Sandy Hook previously had 10.1 feet as the highest tide, but Sandy brought just under 14 feet.

"That is the most incredible part of this storm -- the tides," he said, explaining that this hybrid nor'easter and hurricane created an unusual path where the nor'easter moved from south to north and then turned east, pushing water onto the beaches. "This is what city planners say is a worst-case scenario. It is a very rare event."

Stefano reported that while Sandy brought only about an inch of rain to Sussex County, it brought 79 mph wind gusts at High Point, 75 mph at Sussex and 70 mph at Wantage.

A nor'easter on Thanksgiving in 1950 caused even more severe wind gusts over 100 mph in the northern part of New Jersey, although this storm was not as widespread in nature as Sandy and did not damage the shorelines.



The term 100-year storm if often used to describe Sandy and others like it, but some are growing tired of the term as they see it become overplayed.

"It is a deceiving term and is often overused," Lombardo said.

Instead, Lombardo explained that a storm is often called a 100-year storm if one aspect of it is unlikely to occur in the next century. For example, Irene was called that because already saturated grounds caused flooding that is unlikely to occur again for some time.

Lombardo said that this storm is truly more than a 100-year storm since it combined the nor'easter and hurricane to create a far larger, stronger storm that took a unique path.

"This one really had it all," Lombardo said.

Gov. Chris Christie agreed that the term 100-year storm has become overplayed.

"I'm never gonna use the phrase hundred-year storm again," he said in a press conference after the storm. "We've had three of those, three hundred-year storms, in the past three years."


In Case You Missed It

Summer squash makes flavorful 'pasta' dish
Kitchenwise: Summer squash makes a flavorful "pasta" dish with fewer calories and more flavor than pasta itself