The Dictionary Of Hurricane Sandy: 'Landfall'
Hurricane Sandy: 10:16 a.m. Monday Wunderground.comA lot of meteorological terms will be thrown around for the next few days. We're here to define them so you can understand what's going on. Welcome to the Dictionary of Hurricane Sandy. Landfall Noun. Pronunciation: [land-fawl] Landfall is a simple but misleading term. The proper definition, for a tropical or subtropical storm like our new friend Hurricane Sandy, is that when the eye of the storm passes over land, it is classified as "making landfall." This is important not because the eye is dangerous--indeed, the eye of a hurricane has comparatively light winds and mild weather--but because of the feared eyewall. The eyewall is a ring of horrific thunderstorms surrounding the eye, and it's the eyewall we have to be scared of. And if a storm makes landfall, we're going to have to deal with the eyewall. In fact, the eyewall can actually hit land without the...