All 'Tricks' And No 'Treats' For East Coast Residents This Halloween?

With Halloween approaching, most of you are busy getting your costumes ready so that you can spend the fun evening 'Trick or Treating'. However, if forecasters are right, there will not be many 'treats' in store for residents of the East Coast, especially New York and New Jersey, thanks to a nasty storm that is expected to be so bad, that experts are calling it Frankenstorm.

The ominous hybrid monster is the result of the simultaneous meeting of Hurricane Sandy, which is making its way to the area from the Caribbean, an early winter storm that is heading the same way from the West Coast and a blast of icy Arctic air blowing in from the north, The combination is expected to result in a deadly storm with high winds, extreme tides and possibly even snow!

If the current forecasts hold, all three systems will reach the East Coast of the United States by early Tuesday. While the populous areas of New York and New Jersey are expected to beard the brunt of all three, Hurricane Sandy will affect people as far inland as Ohio and as far south as Florida. Also, Frankenstorm is not going to be a quick flash storm, but one of those stubborn ones expected to linger for five to six days!

Besides putting a real damper on Halloween, the storm is also expected to cause considerable damage for a number of reasons. With the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration  (NOAA) predicting at least 10-inches of rain and extreme ocean surges, exacerbated by the fact that the storm will hit during full moon when tides are at their highest, the coastal areas are bracing for some major flooding. NOAA is also expecting up to 2-inches of snow in West Virginia, which could result in major power outages given that the trees are still green.

Many experts are comparing it to the Perfect or Halloween Storm of October 1991 that hit areas of New England and Canada and was caused by Hurricane Grace coming in from Bermuda and clashing with a massive low pressure system from Canada. However, others fear this could be much worse and that the destruction caused will be closer to $10 billion USD as compared to the $200 million USD in 1991. While authorities and residents are trying to prepare the best they can for all kinds of emergencies, there is really no telling what may happen when nature unleashes its fury.

Thankfully, weather forecasting is not a perfect science and any one of these storms could lose intensity on their way there - We sure hope that is the case, but we will only find out for sure on Tuesday, October 30th, when Frankenstorm hits the shores of New Jersey!

We wish all our readers on the East Coast the best and please be sure to come back and tell us how Frankenstorm impacted you, by adding your comments below.

Resources: news.yahoo.com,freep,com,foxnews.com