Bazaar
Nor'easter Brought Damaging Winds, Rain, Coastal Flooding, Snow, Ice (RECAP) | The Weather Channel
Advertisement
Advertisement

Winter Storm

Nor'easter Brought Damaging Winds, Rain, Coastal Flooding, Snow, Ice (RECAP)

Play

At a Glance

  • A Nor'easter brought mostly rain and strong winds to the Northeast Megalopolis.
  • Freezing rain, sleet and snow accumulated in the interior Northeast.
  • Coastal flooding and beach erosion occurred along parts of the Eastern Seaboard.

A Nor'easter hammered the East Coast with high winds, heavy rain, coastal flooding and beach erosion in late-January 2017. Snow and ice was limited to interior sections of the region and northern New England.

(NEWS: Nor'easter Hammers Mid-Atlantic, Northeast)

Some fairly heavy sleet accumulations occurred in some areas, including 6.5 inches in Wilton, Maine (1 inch was snow), and 3.5 inches of sleet in Dutchess County, New York. Freezing rain accumulated up to 0.80 inches near East Machias, Maine, and 0.27 inches in Burlington, Vermont.

Through Tuesday, Jan. 24, there were 65 reports of damage from strong winds in the Northeast from this Nor'easter, mainly in southern New England.

Winds gusting from 40 to 50 mph were clocked at Boston's Logan Airport, as well as on Cape Cod. Winds downed trees and wires in parts of southern New England and Long Island Monday night.

(INTERACTIVE: Storm Report Map)

Winds gusted to 63 mph Jan. 23 in Cape May, New Jersey, and Slaughter Beach, Delaware.

In north Philadelphia, high winds knocked a sign off a wall Monday afternoon, which ended up killing a man in the Hunting Park neighborhood. 

Coastal flooding was observed along the Delaware Beaches, Jersey Shore and parts of Long Island, including Atlantic City, Ocean City and North Wildwood in New Jersey and Dewey Beach in Delaware.

This prompted closures of some roadways in these areas, including Delaware Route 1 south of Dewey Beach, New Jersey Route 35 in Belmar and the southbound lanes of the Wantagh State Parkway at the Bay Parkway Bridge east of Point Lookout, New York.

Strong onshore winds pushed waves over the seawall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and widespread dune erosion occurred in parts of the Jersey Shore Monday.

Here are some snow and ice totals:

  • Connecticut: 3.5 inches of snow in Litchfield; 2.4 inches of sleet in Staffordville
  • Maine: 5 inches of snow in Starks; 6.5 inches of sleet near Wilton (1 inch of that was snow); 0.80 inches of ice near East Machias
  • Massachusetts: 5.4 inches of snow near Sterling; 0.25 inches of ice in Berlin, Spencer and Leicester
  • New Hampshire: 4.4 inches of snow in Randolph; 1.1 inches of sleet in Boscawen; 0.20 inches of ice in Bow
  • New York: 6.3 inches of snow near Stafford; 0.30 inches of ice in Goodell Corners
  • Pennsylvania: 9 inches of snow in Morris Run; 0.25 inches of ice in Albrightsville
  • Vermont: 6 inches of snow in Woodford; 0.9 inches of sleet in Richford; 0.27 inches of ice in Burlington, 0.29 inches of ice in Morrisville

This Isn't What You'd Expect in Late January

Snow lovers typically rejoice when a strong low-pressure system tracks off the Northeast coast in late January. However, this year is unusual in that not much snow is expected with this upcoming Nor'easter.

The lack of snow is due to the upper-level pattern and the track of the surface low-pressure system. The result will be a rain event along the coast and a mix of wintry precipitation, at times, farther inland.

Advertisement
People begin to venture out to assess the damage after Winter Storm Jonas dropped nearly 30 inches of snow in Baltimore, MD on Sunday, January 24, 2016. (Shawn Hubbard/weather.com)
People begin to venture out to assess the damage after Winter Storm Jonas dropped nearly 30 inches of snow in Baltimore, MD on Sunday, January 24, 2016.
(Shawn Hubbard/weather.com)

This is a much different situation than what happened last year at this time. Winter Storm Jonas buried a large portion of the Northeast urban corridor with more than 2 feet of snow from the Washington D.C. area to New York City, from Jan. 22 to Jan. 24, 2016.

(MORE: 5 Most Impressive Things About Winter Storm Jonas)

Snowfall rates of up to 3 inches of snow an hour were observed, at times, during the peak of Jonas, and New York City set a new record for heaviest snowstorm with 27.5 inches of snow measured.

This impressive storm stranded thousands of travelers and a quarter-million customers lost power during the storm.

Two years ago, Winter Storm Juno impacted portions of the Northeast with heavy snow, strong winds and coastal flooding from Jan. 26 to Jan. 28, 2015.

(MORE: Winter Storm Juno Recap)

New England was particularly hard-hit, with blizzard conditions reported in areas of eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. At least one person died as a result of the storm.

Although late January can see significant and impactful snowstorms in the Northeast, this does not appear to be the case this year.

PHOTOS: Jan. 23-24, 2017 Nor'Easter

 

Advertisement
Hidden Weather Icon Masks
Hidden Weather Icon Symbols