THERE MAY BE TROUBLE AHEAD

Federal forecasters have warned that a hybrid weather system they have dubbed "Frankenstorm," nature's perfect monstrous "trick or treat" for the Halloween season, is threatening the US East Coast after passing through the Caribbean, and leaving 21 dead.

Meteorologists say that high wind, heavy rain, extreme tides and snow in higher grounds may hit beginning from early Sunday and peak with the landing of Hurricane Sandy on Tuesday. The super-storm may persist past Halloween on Wednesday. meteorologists say.

Meteorologists said in an alert on Thursday that the storm may merge with a cold front and transform into a devastating hybrid system next week, just before Halloween. CNN describes merging of the storm with a strong cold front from the west that transforms it into a super-storm as the worst case scenario projection for it.

About 50 million Americans are in the direct path of the storm, experts say. There is a consensus among experts that the storm will make a direct hit on Monday or Tuesday in the region between Virginia and New England.

6,000 flights have been cancelled so far in the lead up to this storm.