Today we are worrying for our many friends and family members in the vast path of the frankenstorm.  A little front that passed through here a couple of days ago is meeting up with gigantic Hurricane Sandy, plus a wintry storm coming down from Canada, plus a full-moon tide.   Millions of North Americans will be affected, including nearly 30 percent of the population of the US and 70 percent of the population of Canada.

Sandy has been working itself north from the Caribbean for a few days now, and its death toll is already at 65 at this writing.  A huge volume of water is on the move. Right now most weather models predict the storm surge will come onshore in New Jersey tomorrow night. Massive evacuations were ordered yesterday along the US coastline.  Subways will shut down in New York City tonight, with some predicting a 50 percent chance that they will flood.  But this storm is not just a coastal event.  Rain, wind, snow, flooding are on their way. To give you an idea of the brutal size and force of this storm, flood warnings are in effect as far from the Atlantic as Toronto.

It’s another one for the record books, folks – I wonder if the record books are tracking the number of weather records that are being broken month after month.

We keep telling the people we love: buy batteries, stock up on shelf-stable food, charge your computer, gas up the car. But what we mean to say is: we love you.  We hate and fear this weather.  We hate and fear that this is the new normal.