Airlines Brace for Chaos as Sandy Moves In

Sandy briefly lost its status as a hurricane this morning, but regained it hours later as it moved toward the US. All those ominous Frankenstorm warnings are still in effect, as are states of emergency along the East Coast. Tropical-storm conditions being felt in Florida should reach the Carolinas tonight, reports NBC News. Landfall, along with the most serious trouble, is still on track for early next week.

• Travel mess: Airlines have canceled relatively few flights so far, but they're encouraging passengers to rebook now, at no charge, to avoid the inevitable chaos, reports AP.

• Not just the coast: "It could bring 10 inches of rain to coastal areas and 5 to 10 inches inland, dumping as much as two feet of snow in West Virginia's mountainous areas, driving 50 mile-an-hour winds to the Ohio Valley and the potential flooding of rivers in states including Pennsylvania and Delaware." Wall Street Journal
• Morphing now: "Sandy is transitioning into a hybrid storm that is part tropical and part like a nor'easter. When it hits the coast next week, it will have the size of winter storm covering hundreds of miles and the strength of a minimal hurricane." Boston Globe
• You can track the storm via the NOAA here.

(More Hurricane Sandy stories.)