Ken McKinley operates Locus Weather in Camden. We asked Ken this morning to give us his interpretation of how events of Hurricane Sandy affects the Midcoast.

“People are so focused on the center of the storm," he said. "The center of the storm will not reach the Midcoast, but its circulation is huge and extends to a very large area. The strongest winds reach about 500 miles in each direction, or 1,000 miles across. By the time it makes landfall it will not be classified as a hurricane. It will be what we call an extra-tropical storm meaning simply it’s not in the tropics.”

The center will cross the coast late this evening, probably south Jersey. It might even stall for a while, then on to New York and southern Pennsylvania before moving up into the St. Lawrence Valley.  

“We are feeling the effects of it," said Ken. "The strongest winds will be overnight tonight. We could see sustained winds of 35 miles per hour, gusts to 45-50 miles per hour at times, maybe a little stronger offshore or higher up on the mountains. There will be some power outages, but not widespread devastation. There are still leaves on the trees and that gives the wind a little more to hold onto.”

He said: “The circulation of the system will dictate what we see all week. Once it makes landfall the circulation is so big we’ll be under the affects of it all week long. Tomorrow it will be diminished somewhat in our area. The winds won’t be as strong and the rain will lessen, but we’ll see occasional rain or showers probably right through Friday. It’s a serious storm. It will affect a lot of people. There’s a lot of energy and it doesn’t really fit normal meteorological models.”

There is a cold front over great lakes right now is somewhat stalled and is being drawn east into our system as it moves west.

“Tomorrow at this time it will be one big system," he said. "The two separate systems are getting harder to define right now and eventually it will become one. Some places in West Virginia especially the mountains could see a lot of snow out of this. I’ve never seen a blizzard warning associated with a hurricane before, but there is one for West Virginia.”

The tides are always an issue with strong storms and there could be some coastal issues with high tides today and tomorrow as they mix with a full moon that normally affects tides anyway. High tide is at midnight, then noon tomorrow.

“The storm surge will only be about two feet but combined with higher than normal tides, wind and waves there will be issues," Ken said. "By midday tomorrow the wind will be from the southeast which is into the bays. There is increased potential for coastal flooding. There won’t be any coastal inundation, but there are areas of Maine’s coast which are vulnerable to flooding.”

Ken McKinley is a professional meteorologist and has been forecasting for media, business and yachting community from his office in Camden for more than 20 years. His business is Locus Weather.