Did record Arctic Sea ice loss help steer Sandy to Jersey Coast?

Posted at 9:13 AM on November 1, 2012 by Paul Huttner, Minnesota Public Radio
Filed under: Climate change, Hurricanes

• Unprecedented late October storm track from Hurricane Sandy this week 
• Only the 2nd Hurricane to ever hit New Jersey 
• "Blocking pattern" steered Sandy in unusual NW direction into Jersey Shore 
• Warmer arctic linked to more frequent jet stream blocking patterns 
• Record Arctic Sea Ice loss in 2012 may have enhanced blocking pattern this fall 
• Warmer waters caused Sandy's "intensity flare" just before landfall 

What just happened? Connecting the dots 

We've just witnessed a massive hurricane that did something no other tropical system has done in the past - Make a sharp left turn in the Atlantic and plow headfirst into New Jersey & New York in late October.

Here's why Sandy's track was unprecedented for a hurricane this late in the tropical season.

— Late October jet streams are usually well established far enough south that any northward moving Atlantic hurricanes are pushed eastward into the Atlantic by fast moving jet stream winds before they reach the East Coast.

— According to Jeff Masters of WxUndeground, Sandy is just the 2nd hurricane to ever hit the relatively protected (recessed) Jersey Coast. The only other hurricane to hit New Jersey was the "Vagabond Hurricane" in 1903, and that one hit in September when the jet stream is usually further north.

(Continued here.)