Hurricane Sandy Likely to Come Ashore ... But Where?

Is your Halloween costume waterproof?

"There is a consensus forming in weather forecast models that hurricane Sandy is unlikely to go out to sea," according to The Washington Post.

It gets worse.

The Post goes on to report that Sandy will more likely merge with a cold front and transition into a "powerhouse, possibly historic" storm that forecasters say could make landfall anywhere from the Mid-Atlantic states to northern New England or Canada.

Chris Lambert on the WHDH weather blog reports that it will be a few days until forecasters can say where Sandy—or its hybrid remnants -- will make landfall, but the pieces of the puzzle are falling into place that would bring a powerful storm to the Boston area on Monday and Tuesday, with showers lingering into Wednesday.

As a piece of energy rotates in around that buckling jet stream, just at the right time across the eastern U.S., Sandy may actually phase with that upper-level energy and move back toward the coast. As this occurs, Sandy, turns into more of a massive Nor’easter, provides an expanding wind and rain field that produces damaging gusts, flooding rains and coastal flooding over parts of the mid-Atlantic and/or New England anywhere in the Monday-Tuesday timeframe. This scenario is now more likely, and over the next few days, we will be ironing out the details. Although, the timing of all these ingredients coming together has to be precise, so there is still a chance of a miss to the east, but that chance has lowered.

The scenario, Lambert continues, would mean winds in the 50 mph to 60 mph range, with hurricane force (74 mph-plus) gusts at the coast, beach erosion, coastal and inland flooding from torrential rain as well as widespread power outages due to wind and downed tree branches.

If Sandy's path shifts into the Mid-Atlantic states or farther north into the Maritimes, Lambert reports, the impact in this area would be much less severe.

It is too early to say where Sandy will hit, but it is not too early to prepare for a potential storm. The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency offers these hurricane preparedness tips.