WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hurricane Sandy as it moved toward land Monday was beginning to morph from hurricane into hybrid storm. The change signals a more diffuse storm that will be bigger and sloppier.

 

National Hurricane Center Director Rick Knabb said Sandy was beginning to lose its tropical nature as it merges with a cold weather system that is already dumping snow in West Virginia.

 

Sandy has been among the largest-sized hurricanes. Meteorologist Jeff Masters said that as a hybrid, Sandy's damage will be even wider. But it will be less intense.

 

Its force will extend as far as Chicago, where the National Weather Service already has issued high wind warnings and a lakeshore flood warning.