Hurricane Sandy and Normalcy Bias
On Monday, October 29, Hurricane Sandy slammed into the east coast, wreaking havoc on the Jersey shore and New York City. Sandy lived up to expectations — and then some. In fact, it set a few records in the “hurricane” category. For example, CNN reports: When hurricane hunter aircraft measured its central pressure at 940 millibars — 27.76 inches — Monday afternoon, it was the lowest barometric reading ever recorded for an Atlantic storm to make landfall north of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The previous record holder was the 1938 “Long Island Express” Hurricane, which dropped as low as 946 millibars. Sandy’s strength and angle of approach combined to produce a record storm surge of water into New York City. The surge level at Battery …