Ash Wednesday 1962: The Most Extreme Nor'easter on Record to Hit the Mid-Atlantic Coast

Ash Wednesday is remembered by some on the East Coast as more than a Christian holy day. In 1962, it brought the most extreme nor'easter on record to the mid-Atlantic states.

The March 1962 Ash Wednesday Storm pounded the mid-Atlantic coast for nearly three days, battering the shoreline, sweeping beach homes, hotels and boardwalks into the ocean, while bringing near-blizzard conditions to inland areas.

(MORE: 6 Historic Events That Caused Major Coastal Floods in the East)

"The Ash Wednesday Storm ... was probably the largest East Coast winter storm in terms of land loss and number of homes damaged or destroyed," the U.S. Geological Survey says.

The nor'easter reached the mid-Atlantic coast on Tuesday, March 6, 1962, and continued into Thursday, March 8, with huge waves and ferocious winds up to 60 mph. Protective dunes and sea walls crumbled because they could not withstand this storm's fury, and that left the coastline unprotected.

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Each successive high tide, combined with the continuous large waves, carved new inlets and left coastal residents with mass destruction. A typical nor'easter lasts a only day and may produce a few dangerous high tides, but this one was nearly stationary along the mid-Atlantic coast for three days. Every new high tide added to the damage left behind by the last high tide.

"Most nor'easters are moving fairly quickly," Delaware state climatologist Dan Leathers told the Delmarva Daily Times. "In this case, the storm sat there and piled up water. It just allowed more and more water to be piled up along the coast."

Residents of New Jersey's barrier islands had to rush to escape as the rising ocean waters began to engulf the islands. The only link to the mainland was bridges, which quickly became blocked by debris and water. Helicopters or army trucks had to rescue some people from their homes who were unable to evacuate in time.

Nearly all of Sea Isle City, New Jersey's, 1,200 residents were forced to evacuate their homes, many of which became submerged in up to 5 feet of water. Many Cape May, New Jersey, residents had to leave after they lost electricity, water, heat and sewage facilities during the storm. Atlantic City, New Jersey, was inundated with 25-foot waves and wind gusts as high as 58 mph.

(MORE: Impact Differences When a Hurricane Parallels the Coast Instead of Making Landfall)

The high tides had ripped homes from their foundations, destroyed roadways and created new inlets along Long Beach Island. Parts of the Atlantic City boardwalk were shredded to pieces. Damage in New Jersey was estimated at $130 million, nearly half the total of all six states hit.

Farther south, numerous beach-front communities in North Carolina were also left in ruins. Thick sand covered roads and lined the first story of homes and businesses in Kitty Hawk, Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills.

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As is the case with most nor'easters, heavy snow pummeled areas farther inland. Conditions were so bad that virtually all transportation was shut down and telephone communication was wiped out. Near-blizzard conditions were reported in North Carolina, and Virginia's Shenandoah Valley was buried in nearly two feet of snow.

Winchester, Virginia, picked up 23 inches of snow from this event, the heaviest single snowfall on record in that city, at the time. As much as 42 inches of snow were measured in the adjacent Blue Ridge Mountains of western Virginia.

Snow was reported as far south as Alabama, and temperatures in the 30s plunged into portions of Florida.

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Chincoteague and Assateague islands in Virginia paid a heavy price. On Chincoteague Island, alone, 1,200 homes were damaged and 90 percent of cars had been flooded.

The American Red Cross credited the death toll at 40 people along the East Coast, 10 of them in New Jersey alone.

The Storm's Setup

The powerful nor'easter developed during an upper-level blocking weather pattern, featuring high pressure to the north and low pressure to the south. Essentially, when a storm is blocked, it is trapped and can't move on, as it normally would.

One of the weather systems stuck was a large storm developing off the North Carolina coast. The system combined with a large area of high pressure over northern Canada to create a strong onshore windflow, which picked up an abundance of moisture from the Atlantic Ocean.

High-pressure systems have a clockwise circulation, while low-pressure systems have a counter-clockwise circulation, so this setup allowed for a long path of the air over the ocean before reaching the coast, better known as the fetch. As a result of this disastrous setup, water and high waves were driven toward the shoreline.

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While the storm was neither a hurricane nor a classic nor'easter, it had such a powerful impact that the U.S. Weather Bureau (now the National Weather Service) gave it a name – the Great Atlantic Storm. That name was later changed by Outer Banks resident Aycock Brown. He named it the Ash Wednesday Storm, after the holy day in which the storm produced its most destructive impacts.