NASA satellite image of Hurricane Sandy

The East Coast of the U.S. will be experiencing a late-season hurricane this week, due to mix with a cold air mass to form what some have termed a “Frankenstorm“. As people are battening down the hatches and preparing for the worst from Hurricane Sandy, we thought it appropriate to provide a couple of quick resources you can use to monitor the storm’s path and impact. Aside from the major news outlets and of course the National Weather Service, these offer aggregated information and real-time updates sourced from across the areas affected by the storm.

Google Crisis Map

Google.org has posted a crisis map of Hurricane Sandy that allows you to view multiple types of data overlaid on a map of the storm’s trajectory. Options include:

• Weather radar
• Up-to-date warnings and advisories across the eastern U.S.
• Hurricane evacuation routes
• Webcams and YouTube videos
• Active emergency shelters

Twitter

Twitter conversations about the hurricane appear are primarily using the hashtag #Sandy. However, as you will probably see if you watch traffic on that hashtag, it captures both authoritative posts as well as more trivial ones (such as celebrities’ posts about the hurricane). You can find more informative tweets with the general #wx tag, or by using your local weather hashtag–your state’s 2-letter abbreviation + “wx” (e.g., #PAwx for Pennsylvania weather).

As we continue to prepare for this storm, tell us what resources you will be using to track Sandy. Comment below or tweet to us at @AWAREforum.