While no-one really knows whether this storm will create chaos or full-scale national catastrophe, the political effects are already being felt.

BBC: Hurricane Sandy: Growing seriousness of storm threat

The Saffir-Simpson scale assigns a storm a number between 1 and 5, with "1" being a weak hurricane and "5" the strongest.

CNN: Hurricanes -- slow, methodical, deadly

Two National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration storm-rating measurements initially ranked Friday's snowstorm as 16th in Northeast history by one scale and 25th by another.

WSJ: The whopper of a storm didn't rank high in history

Meteorologists had warned about particularly nasty weather Friday but said the storm's fury didn't match that of a top-of-the-scale EF5 tornado that struck suburban Moore, where a tornado killed 24 on May 20.

WSJ: Tornado-Hit Oklahoma Struck Again; Mother and Baby Dead

To the south, a severe storm with winds approaching 80 mph rolled into Moore, where a top-of-the-scale EF5 tornado killed 24 on May 20.

WSJ: Tornado-Hit Oklahoma Struck Again; Mother and Baby Dead