The National Weather Service is forecasting a blizzard will hit the New York metropolitan area Tuesday afternoon. While the forecasts seem to be something from "The Perfect Storm," meteorologists in Philadelphia and New York are all calling for winds reaching 65 miles an hour and 18 to 24 inches of snow inland and more than a foot in coastal areas.
"This is the type of storm people will be talking about in 20 years," said Lt. Col. Eric Thurmond, a U.S. Army meteorologist based at the National Climatic Data Center headquarters in Alabama.
Following the severity of a much smaller storm that hit the area in December, the University has taken the forecasts seriously and will close all University offices on Tuesday. Because of the dangerous situation developing for traveling employees and students, the University is pushing up the Dean's Date deadline to 10 a.m. Tuesday.
"We don't want to take any chances here with the safety of our students, faculty and staff," said Provost Amy Gutmann. "We will open all academic offices with a small clerical staff from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. only. Students will be responsible for turning in papers during this time."
A University-wide email was sent yesterday morning outlining precautionary measures and guidelines for students. It is available on the University website.
"We're taking this as seriously as possible," said Crime Prevention Specialist Barry Weiser. "We will have tree-trimming crews out all day to prevent possible damage and will be securing common areas of the campus. We urge students to gather a few essential supplies should they be required to stay in their dorms for a day or two."
University facilities managers say they are "ready to meet any challenge" but that if the storm is as strong as forecasted they will not be able to handle the workload.
One University administrator who asked not to be named said, "Realistically, we should expect the entire area to be paralyzed and students to be stranded in their rooms for at least a few days."
The storm developed by the merge of three smaller weather systems. An extratropical cyclone developed along a cold front which had moved off the Northeast coast of the United States on Jan. 9. This low was located a few hundred miles east of the coast of Georgia.
Hurricane-like conditions, which formed on Jan. 8 from a preexisting subtropical storm, were moving northwestward, turned east in response to the strong, westerly deep-layer flow on the southern flank of the developing extra-tropical low, according to the NCDC.
"As the low pressure continued to deepen on Jan. 10, the vigorous cold front from the extratropical low undercut and quickly destroyed the subtropical storm's low level circulation east of Bermuda," Thurmond explained in a NCDC statement.
"The remnant midand upper-level moisture from the storm became caught up in the outer part of the extratropical storm center's circulation, far from the storm's center. The result has been an immense, single storm."
Its intensity of 972 mb and maximum sustained winds of 60 knots seem to have stabilized as of yesterday, Thurmond said.
University officials have said they will send another email this afternoon to provide last-minute details and updates on the storm's progress.
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