Satellite image of the intense nor'easter responsible for the North American blizzard of 2006. Note the hurricane-like eye at the center.

A nor'easter (also northeaster; see below) is a macro-scale storm along the East Coast of the United States. A Nor'easter is so named because the winds in a Nor'easter come from the northeast, especially in the coastal areas of the Northeastern United States and Atlantic Canada. More specifically, it describes a low pressure area whose center of rotation is just off the East Coast and whose leading winds in the left forward quadrant rotate onto land from the northeast. The precipitation pattern is similar to other extratropical storms. Nor'easters also can cause coastal flooding, coastal erosion, gale force winds, and heavy snow. Nor'easters are characterized by having an association with a warm front, cold front, or occluded fronts. Nor'easters can occur at any time of the year but are mostly known for their presence in the winter season.^[1] Nor'easters can be devastating and damaging, especially in the winter months, when most damage and deaths are cold related, as Nor'easters are known for bringing extremely cold air down from the Arctic air mass. Nor'easters thrive on the converging air masses; that is, the polar cold air mass and the warmer ocean water of the Gulf Stream.^[2] Nor'easters will usually develop between 30 N. and 35 N. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (740x776, 129 KB) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (740x776, 129 KB) File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... 1Maximum snowfall or ice accretion The Blizzard of 2006 was a noreaster that began on the evening of February 11, 2006. ... This article is about weather phenomena. ... For other uses, see Storm (disambiguation). ... East Coast can refer to: East Coast of the United States East Coast hip hop East Coast Park East-coast liberal East Coast Railway East Coast Akalat East Coast bias East Coast Music Awards East Coast Bays East Coast Main Line East Coast Greenway East Coast Parkway East Coast Swing... Ordinal directions are the four compass directions: northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest, located halfway between the cardinal directions. ... Regional definitions vary The Northeastern United States is a region of the United States. ... The four Canadian Atlantic provinces. ... A large low-pressure system swirls off the southwestern coast of Iceland, illustrating the maxim that nature abhors a vacuum. ... This article is about rotation as a movement of a physical body. ... East Coast can refer to: East Coast of the United States East Coast hip hop East Coast Park East-coast liberal East Coast Railway East Coast Akalat East Coast bias East Coast Music Awards East Coast Bays East Coast Main Line East Coast Greenway East Coast Parkway East Coast Swing... A fictitious synoptic chart of an extratropical cyclone affecting the UK & Ireland. ... A flood (in Old English flod, a word common to Teutonic languages; compare German Flut, Dutch vloed from the same root as is seen in flow, float) is an overflow of water, an expanse of water submerging land, a deluge. ... Many stretches of the coastline of East Anglia, England, are prone to high rates of erosion, as illustrated by this collapsed section of the cliffs at Hunstanton, Norfolk. ... The Beaufort scale is an empirical measure for the intensity of the wind based mainly on sea-state or wave conditions. ... Illustration of a warm front A warm front is defined as the leading edge of a mass of warm air. ... In meteorology, a weather front is a boundary between two air masses with differing characteristics (e. ... For the album by Ocean Colour Scene, see North Atlantic Drift (album) The Gulf Stream is orange and yellow in this representation of water temperatures of the Atlantic. ...

Formation

Nor'easters usually form off of the Carolina coast, in the winter months when Labrador currents and the warm Gulf Stream current meet. The sharp contrast in air temperatures above these currents allows a low pressure system to form. Meanwhile, over Canada, winds move in a clockwise direction around a High pressure system. These winds move far into the northeastern United States, bringing in Arctic air that allows freezing precipitation. The low pressure system begins to move up the coast. At the same time, air rushes counterclockwise around it, bringing winds that blow from the northeast, hence the name, "nor'easter." These winds pick up moisture from the ocean. Lift causes the moisture to rise and form clouds and precipitation. If the clouds are trapped east of the Appalachian Mountains, they drop precipitation on areas along the coast.^[3] For the album by Ocean Colour Scene, see North Atlantic Drift (album) The Gulf Stream is orange and yellow in this representation of water temperatures of the Atlantic. ... A high, or a high pressure area, is a region where the atmospheric pressure is greatest with relation to the surrounding area. ... The Appalachian Mountains are a vast system of mountains in eastern North America. ...

Characteristics

Nor'easters are usually formed by an area of vorticity associated with an upper-level disturbance or from a kink in a frontal surface that causes a surface low pressure area to develop. Such storms very often are formed from the merging of several weaker storms, a "parent storm" and a polar jet stream mixing with the tropical jet stream.

Until the nor'easter passes, thick, dark, low-level clouds often block out the sun. During a single storm, the precipitation can range from a torrential downpour to a fine mist. Low temperatures and high wind gusts are also associated with a nor'easter. On very rare occasions, such as in the North American blizzard of 2006 and a nor'easter in 1979, the center of the storm can take on the circular shape more typical of a hurricane and have a small eye. All precipitation types can occur in a nor'easter, although they are well-known for their frozen precipitaion. 1Maximum snowfall or ice accretion The Blizzard of 2006 was a noreaster that began on the evening of February 11, 2006. ... This article is about weather phenomena. ... Eye of the storm redirects here. ...

Difference from Tropical Cyclones

People often mistake nor'easters for tropical cyclones, and many people don't know the difference. Nor'easters differ from a tropical cyclone, because nor'easters are cold-core low pressure systems, meaning that they thrive off of cold air. Tropical cyclones are warm-core low pressure systems, which means they thrive off of warm temperatures.

Difference from other extratropical storms

Though a Nor'easter is formed in a strong extratropical cyclone, which do occur on many places around the world, they are unique in the combination of northeast winds and moisture content of the swirling clouds. Close to similar conditions sometimes occur during winter in the Pacific NE (N Japan and northwards) with winds from NW-N. In Europe, similar weather systems with such severity are hardly possible, the moisture content of the clouds is usually not high enough (to cause flooding or heavy snow), though NE winds can be strong. A fictitious synoptic chart of an extratropical cyclone affecting the UK & Ireland. ...

Characterised by north-moving or stationary cyclone, they differ from windstorms which are produced by strong eastmoving extratropical cyclones.

Areas often affected

The northeastern United States, from New Jersey to the New England coast, Quebec and Atlantic Canada see nor'easters each year, most often in the winter and early spring, but also sometimes during the autumn. These storms can leave inches of rain or several feet of snow on the region and sometimes last for several days. This article is about the U.S. state. ... This article is about the region in the United States of America. ... This article is about the Canadian province. ... The four Canadian Atlantic provinces. ...

The Atlantic coast, from northern Georgia northward up the coast, can suffer high winds, pounding surf, and extremely heavy rains during these storms. However, swells have been known to cause damage through the Caribbean as well. Surfers wait in anticipation when a Nor'easter is formed. Nor'easters cause a significant amount of severe beach erosion in these areas, as well as flooding in the associated low-lying areas. Beach residents in these areas may actually fear the repeated depredations of nor'easters over those of hurricanes, because nor'easters happen more frequently and cause substantial damage to beach-front property and their dunes. Nor'easters are often mistaken for Euroclydons, but these are two separate weather patterns. A Euroclydons is in fact a tempestuous northeast wind that blows in the Mediterranean. 1. ...

"Nor'easter" usage and origins

The term "nor'easter" comes to American English by way of British English and the points of the compass and wind or sailing direction. According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the first recorded use in the English language of the term "nore" ("north") in association with the points of the compass and wind direction is by Dekker in 1612 ("How blowes the winde Syr?" "Wynde! is Nore-Nore-West."), with similar uses occurring in 1688 (". . . Nore and Nore-West . . .") and in 1718 (". . . Nore-west or Nore-nore-west."). These recorded uses are predated by use of the term "noreast," first recorded as used by Davis in 1594 ("Noreast by North raiseth a degree in sayling 24 leagues.") and shown, for instance, on a compass card published in 1607. Thus, the manner of pronouncing from memory the 32 points of the compass, known in maritime training as "boxing the compass", is described by Ansted (A Dictionary of Sea Terms, Brown Son & Ferguson, Glasgow, 1933) with pronunciations "Nor'east (or west)," "Nor' Nor'-east (or west)," "Nor'east b' east (or west)," and so forth. According to the OED, the first recorded use of the term "nor'easter" occurs in 1836 in a translation of Aristophanes. The term "nor'easter" naturally developed from the historical spellings and pronunciations of the compass points and the direction of wind or sailing. A modern compass card. ...

As noted in a January 2006 editorial by William Sisson, editor of Soundings magazine, use of "nor'easter" to describe the storm system is common along the U.S. East Coast. Yet it has been asserted by some that "nor'easter" as a contraction for "northeaster" has no basis in regional New England dialect and is a "fake" word, which is a parochial view that neglects the little-known etymology and the historical maritime usage described above.

According to a handful of 20th-century Maine-based authors, Downeast mariners historically pronounced the compass point "north northeast" as "no'nuth-east," and so on. For decades, Edgar Comee, of Brunswick, Maine, waged a determined battle against use of the term "nor’easter" by the press, which usage he considered “a pretentious and altogether lamentable affectation” and "the odious, even loathsome, practice of landlubbers who would be seen as salty as the sea itself." His efforts, which included mailing hundreds of postcards, were profiled, just before his death at the age of 88, in The New Yorker.^[4] Brunswick is a town located in Cumberland County, Maine. ... For other uses, see New Yorker. ...

Despite the efforts of Mr. Comee and others, use of the term continues by the press. According to Boston Globe writer Jan Freeman, "from 1975 to 1980, journalists used the nor'easter spelling only once in five mentions of such storms; in the past year (2003), more than 80 percent of northeasters were spelled nor'easter."^[5]

University of Pennsylvania linguistics professor Mark Liberman has pointed out that while the OED cites examples dating back to 1837, they represent the contributions of a handful of non-New England poets and writers. Liberman posits that "nor’easter" may have originally been a literary affectation, akin to "e'en" for "even" and "th'only" for "the only," which is an indication in spelling that two syllables count for only one position in metered verse, with no implications for actual pronunciation.^[6] This article is about the private Ivy League university in Philadelphia. ... Mark Liberman is a linguist. ... OED stands for Oxford English Dictionary Office of Enrollment & Discipline This page concerning a three-letter acronym or abbreviation is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Famous Nor'easters

• The Great Blizzard of 1888
• The Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962
• The Groundhog Day gale of 1976
• The Blizzard of '78
• The Thanksgiving 1984 Nor'easter
• The Halloween Nor'easter of 1991 (the "Perfect Storm," combined Nor'easter/hurricane)
• The 1993 North American Storm Complex
• The North American blizzard of 1996
• The Atlantic Canada blizzard of February 2004 ("White Juan")
• The North American blizzard of 2005
• The North American blizzard of 2006
• The Late November Nor'easter of 2006
• The Spring Nor'easter of 2007

In February 1992, a nor'Easter lasted for two days and dropped 162 cm (65 inches) of snow on the Moncton area, paralyzing the city for nearly a week. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... 1Maximum snowfall or ice accretion The Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962 occurred on March 6-8, 1962 along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. ... The Groundhog Day gale was a severe winter storm which hit the north-eastern United States and south-eastern Canada on February 2nd, 1976. ... Two major blizzards occurred in the year 1978. ... 1Maximum snowfall or ice accretion The Late November 1984 Noreaster occurred on the United States Thanksgiving Day, November 23, 1984. ... Lowest pressure 980 mbar (hPa) as tropical system 972 mbar (hPa) as extratropical system Damages $1. ... 1Maximum snowfall or ice accretion The 1993 North American storm complex, also known as the ’93 Superstorm, the (Great) Blizzard of 1993, or the Storm of the Century, was a large cyclonic storm that occurred on March 12–March 15, 1993, on the East Coast of North America. ... Blizzard of 1996 snowdrifts, Yonkers, New York. ... 1Maximum snowfall or ice accretion White Juan was the unofficial name given to the Atlantic Canada blizzard of February 2004 which was a strong noreaster that effected most of Atlantic Canada between February 17th and 20th 2004 only 5 months after Hurricane Juan devastated Halifax on September 28th 2003. ... Abandoned cars line Route 6A in Yarmouthport, Massachusetts on Cape Cod, one of the hardest hit areas, receiving as much as 40 inches (1 m) of snow during the Blizzard of 2005. ... 1Maximum snowfall or ice accretion The Blizzard of 2006 was a noreaster that began on the evening of February 11, 2006. ... 1Maximum snowfall or ice accretion An extratropical cyclone known as a noreaster formed offshore the Southeast United States, bringing heavy rains, high winds, beach erosion, and coastal flooding to the Carolinas. ... Noreaster April 16, 2007 Downtown Bound Brook, New Jersey, April 16, 2007 Water levels of the Pompton River, New Jersey by April 16, 2007 The Spring Nor’easter of 2007 was a noreaster that affected mainly the northeastern parts of the United States of America during its three... For other uses, see Moncton (disambiguation). ...

See also

• Sou'easter, a similar weather phenomenon with winds from the southeast^[7]

References

1. ^ http://www.mcwar.org/articles/noreasters/NorEasters.html
2. ^ http://www.mcwar.org/articles/noreasters/NorEasters.html
3. ^ http://www3.cet.edu/weather2/h17.html
4. ^ "Talk of the Town". The New Yorker, issue of 5 September 2005.
5. ^ Jan Freeman, "The Word". The Boston Globe, issue of 21 December 2003.
6. ^ Mark Liberman, "Nor'easter considered fake". Language Log, 25 January 2004.
7. ^ "Southeaster" at the American Meteorological Society Glossary of Meteorology

For other uses, see New Yorker. ... is the 248th day of the year (249th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Boston Globe (and Boston Sunday Globe) is the most widely circulated daily newspaper in Boston, Massachusetts and New England. ... is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Language Log is a popular collaborative language blog maintained by University of Pennsylvania phonetician Mark Liberman. ... is the 25th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The American Meteorological Society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications. ...

External links

• NOR'EASTERS: Comprehension, Preparation and Survival. Multi-Community Environmental Storm Observatory (MESO) (October 2002). Retrieved on 2007-03-20.

• Blizzard Video: Dec 9, 2005 Duration: 9m59sec

• Archived issues of NOR'EASTER (Magazine of the Northeast Sea Grant Programs), published until 1999.

• Duxbury, Massachusetts April 2007 Nor'easter photos