The first nor’easter of the season is pounding the northeast with heavy rain and high winds. Fortunately, snow is not part of this system but winds could knock out power to coastal towns in Coastal Massachusetts.
About 3-4 inches of rain has already covered parts of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Now the heavy rain is soaking New England along with winds that could gust to 60 mph near coastal areas of Massachusetts.
This is a real nor’easter driven by low pressure near the coastline unlike many of the local Jacksonville nor’easter events which are driven by high pressure and northeast winds.
Proper nor’easters develop around 100 miles along the mid-Atlantic coast. This is a favored area for storm development due to the warm Gulf Stream ocean current and the clash of air brought down as the jet stream blows cold air southward out of Canada and eastward toward the ocean.
Where the cold air and warm water meet, a low-pressure system forms and tracks up the coast, dumping moisture on the coast with high northeast winds.