New England weather is notoriously unpredictable. Even with the vast improvements in technology and knowledge, no forecaster is going to be able to predict the weather with absolute certainty, especially far in advance. But when virtually all the meteorologists I read start sounding really concerned about a weather event, it might be time to start paying attention rather than poo-pooing it.
Sure, it’s easy to second-guess after the fact, but most meteorologists are going going to err on the side of caution if it means saving lives. And I personally would rather have it that way. It’s much worse to say that something will probably be not so bad and have it turn out to be horrific than the reverse. So far this storm is bad enough. Right now the number of customers without power here in Massachusetts is up to 172,000. About 10% of Cambridge is without power as a result. The worst part of the storm is supposed to come ashore in the next few hours. I had read in several places that they are expecting atmospheric pressure records to be broken, with probable measurements well below 960 millibars of mercury. The hurricane has actually strengthened somewhat, with winds near 90 mph, and strong winds extending hundreds of miles from the center of the storm. Much of Greater Boston is shut down now, including schools and the MBTA. We will see if either of us works tomorrow. And hopefully by Wednesday things will have cleared up a bit for Halloween. I still expect to be out on some details in the next couple of days.
-Geoff
The Books are Taking Over... 
Be well and stay safe,my friends.