The NYT’s useful interactive graphic showing how much snow various parts of the Northeast are getting this weekend.
Gawker’s Max Read on why you shouldn’t call this storm battering the East Coast Nemo:
Yes: last year The Weather Channel—which owns Weather.com, Weather Underground, and a host of other weather-related sites—announced it would begin naming winter storms too. That is its official list of names, as packaged in its official, attractive graphic.
The truth is there is very little attempt being made to hide the fact that this is a money play. In case the inclusion of “Draco” and “Nemo” (just some Greek and Roman names, nothing to do with any recent children’s movies, don’t worry) and “Gandolf” (the “Bert Sampson” of fantasy names) didn’t tip you off, the announcement itself makes it clear that this is about punching up the weather story: “A storm with a name takes on a personality all its own,” writes Tom Niziol. Such “personality,” he claims “adds to awareness.”
Awareness! Of course, awareness. It’s true that if everyone involved in risk and emergency communication—management agencies, local governments, and private news outlets—can agree on a name, it might help emphasize and direct storm news and information.
Cable networks: Where they throw out the official rule book in the name of ratings and hope everyone else plays along.
HELLFREEZE A Chicago Fire Department lieutenant walked near an ice-covered warehouse that caught fire Tuesday night on the city’s South Side. Ice encased the building as firefighters battled the blaze amid freezing temperatures. (Photo: John Gress / Reuters via The Wall Street Journal)
Tough day in Chicago, all. Stay safe out there.
The NYS 2100 commission, one of four that Mr. Cuomo established in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, is tasked with evaluating and recommending changes to the state’s infrastructure to better prepare for the harsher weather expected in the future. Its broad 175-page study says the state should consider storm barriers with movable gates that would span the Narrows, at a cost of tens of billions of dollars, and endorses a variety of “soft infrastructure” investments like building dunes and wetlands and oyster reefs, which were more prevalent along New York’s coastline in the 1800s.New York State Storm Panel Recommends Major Changes - NYTimes.com (via rubenfeld)
BREAKING: US economy adds 146,000 jobs in November
The U.S. economy added a solid 146,000 jobs in November and the unemployment rate fell to 7.7 percent, the lowest since December 2008. The government said Superstorm Sandy had only a minimal effect on the figures.
AP reports:Hiring remained steady during the storm and in the face of looming tax increases. But the government said employers added 49,000 fewer jobs in October and September than initially estimated. And the unemployment rate fell from 7.9 percent in October mostly because more people stopped looking for work and weren’t counted as unemployed.
Photo: A man walks past destroyed homes on the Rockaway Peninsula in the Queens borough of New York on Nov. 27, 2012. (Seth Wenig/AP Photo)
The good news: Things are improving. The better news: A tough month after Sandy didn’t crimp the improvement.
2 killed in 100-vehicle pileup in Texas
KFDM News: Two people are dead and dozens are injured after an estimated 100 vehicles collided in heavy fog on Interstate 10 near Beaumont, Texas, officials said.
The Department of Public Safety reopened I-10 West, but I-10 East will remain closed another 8-10 hours.
Follow updates on Breaking News.
Photo via kfdm.com
Insane due to the size of the crash. Insane more people weren’t killed. Wow.
A partially collapsed crane hangs from a high-rise building in Manhattan as Hurricane Sandy makes its approach in New York October 29, 2012. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Follow live updates on Hurricane Sandy
Wowza.
We’re still waiting for the full impact of Hurricane Sandy. But we’ve got at least a sense for what lies ahead in the next hours and days.
The National Weather Service has issued a series of warningsup and down the East Coast.
Below, we take a geographical look at the five most politically important areas in the path of the storm:
1. Philadelphia: This is where Democrats win elections in Pennsylvania, and it’s smack-dab in the middle of where the hurricane is supposed to make landfall. There is currently a flood warning in place for Philadelphia. The question is whether whatever happens over the next week hurts turnout in this vital area of the state. There is no early voting, so Democrats won’t be losing votes before Election Day, but they’ll need this area to come out strong on Nov. 6. If it doesn’t, that could give Republicans a better chance in a blue-leaning state (and a huge electoral vote prize).
The Post’s list of potentially affected regions also includes Boston, southwest Virginia, western and coastal North Carolina, as well as both northern and eastern Ohio. The storm is expected to leave tens of thousands, possibly even millions, of residents without power, and has already forced the cancellation of early voting in some parts of North Carolina. Could all this bad weather have an effect on the final results?
— Scott @ ShortFormBlog
Our first post on Election. We tried to make it count.
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New York Stock Exchange to close trading floor, trade electronically for storm
The New York Stock Exchange said it will shut its trading floor starting tomorrow and invoke contingency plans to move all trading to NYSE Arca, its electronic exchange, as Hurricane Sandy heads toward the city.
Photo credit: Scott Eells / Bloomberg
Translation: Our financial system will continue moving without a physical presence.
Hurricane Sandy continues to propagate northward, seen here using GOES-East infrared satellite.
Crazy stuff.
Sandy Potential Impacts Norfolk to NYC, Boston
Depending on the path of Sandy, now brewing in the Caribbean, people along the East Coast during the week of Halloween could be looking a destructive storm or breathing a sigh of relief.
As of Wednesday morning, Sandy was just below hurricane strength with an increase in forward movement toward Jamaica.
Dear October: You’re not supposed to do this to us.
Think you’re a weather nerd? Well, you’re probably not as weather-nerdy as this guy, who managed to create a visual effect using CSS, HTML and PHP to build a live-updating animated banner based on the current weather on the location the current visitor is in. Whoa. (ht Hacker News)
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