A week before the hurricane, European climate models predicted a massive hurricane that would devastate the entire east coast. The National Weather Service had accurately predicted that the hurricane would make landfall in southeastern New Jersey. Forecasts of the most extreme wind rates reaching 70 miles per hour (113 kilometers per hour) coordinated all reports of explosions reaching around 65 and 75 mph (105 and 121 km/h). The 12-foot waves at Battery Park in lower Manhattan shattered the 1821 record for storm height. In the days before the hurricane, the National Weather Service had predicted record storm surges and flooding in the New York and New Jersey area, with crest levels of 3 to 4 m (11 to 13 ft) at the battery. A couple of days later, the National Weather Service precisely measures the 2-3 feet (simply less than a meter) of snow accumulating in the Appalachians, West Virginia. [2]Storm Sandy was the deadliest and most destructive hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season, and also the second costliest tropical storm in U.S. history. In the United States, Sandy massacred 117 people from October 28 to November 30, 2012. In total, 286 people are said to have died as a result of the storm. [3]At the height of its power, right over Cuba, Hurricane Sandy was classified as a Category 3 storm. In the United States, 24 states experienced a variety of storm impacts, including wind, heavy rain, storm surge, storm surge on the beach and snow flurries.