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Hurricane Sandy continues to move toward the East Coast, where it may combine with a front from the west, and has generated all sort of hyperbole. Hopefully, most of it is not true.

The region has been hit by several hurricanes in the past decade, none of which did catastrophic damage. As is true with all storms, Sandy could wobble more out to sea than head into the Mid-Atlantic, New York or New England. But the press descriptions of what is likely to happen may trigger some mild panic.

According to Bloomberg:

Hurricane Sandy will probably grow into a “Frankenstorm” that may become the worst to hit the U.S. Northeast in 100 years if current forecasts are correct.

Sandy may combine with a second storm coming out of the Midwest to create a system that would rival the New England Hurricane of 1938 in intensity, said Paul Kocin, a National Weather Service meteorologist in College Park, Maryland.

Douglas A. McIntyre