The Slatest

Hurricane Sandy Could Reach Northeast

Hurricane Sandy could reach the northeastern seaboard by next week

Photo by NOAA via Getty Images.

The next Weather-Related Media event approacheth: Hurricane Sandy, a Category 2 storm currently headed northward after battering Cuba, is currently on a course for the northeastern United States.

Sandy has already killed two in Jamaica and Haiti, according to the Associated Press. And while most storms crossing the mountainous regions of Cuba lose intensity while passing over land, Sandy has shown no signs of slowing down. The storm will likely keep its strength—with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph—as it heads towards the Bahamas, according to experts. The storm is expected to stay out of the Gulf of Mexico, and instead hit the Keys and the eastern Florida coast, where tropical storm watch is in effect.

While it’s too early to say just where Sandy will head after that, there’s already a worst-case scenario outlined should the storm head towards the northeast. The AP explains:

Sandy also may combine with other weather systems to create a major storm over the northeastern U.S. next week, according to federal and private forecasters. “It’ll be a rough couple days from Hatteras up to Cape Cod,” said forecaster Jim Cisco of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration prediction center in College Park, Maryland. “We don’t have many modern precedents for what the models are suggesting.”

For a forecast map and more on the storm’s progress, check out the National Hurricane Center’s page on the storm.