Powerful nor'easter brings wind, rain, dangerous flooding to East Coast - USA Today

A powerful offshore nor'easter is pounding the coast from the Carolinas and into New England, bringing high winds and flooding for tens of millions of Americans through the weekend and into next week.

More than 30 million people along the coast are under wind advisories on Saturday, Sept. 26, and more than 30 million are under advisories or warnings for coastal flooding, the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center said.

Widespread major coastal flooding along with Saturday's high tides, and repeated rounds of flooding, are likely, the weather service said in a forecast discussion. Widespread disruptions to travel and transportation are expected, and the governors of New York and New Jersey declared states of emergency ahead of the storm's weekend intensification.

Residents in the coastal regions were warned to prepare for "significant inundation" in low-lying areas near the shore. Large breaking waves will create strong rip currents, beach erosion and road closures though Monday, the weather service said.

The storm's big waves and high tides began arriving along the Outer Banks of North Carolina on Sept. 24, washing out a section of the coastal highway. On Sept. 25, flooding extended into low-lying areas of Virginia. Flooding continued into the morning of Sept. 26, with the weather service reporting flooding along the New Jersey coast.

A combination of factors is enhancing the flood risks along the mid-Atlantic with this storm, said Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center. Moderate to major flooding is forecast at more than 40 gauges between North Carolina and Long Island as the nor’easter lingers offshore.

The slow-moving storm is arriving with higher tides and rain just as monthly tides reach their highest during the full moon, Hurley said. And it’s not just any full moon; it’s a full moon during an equinox, the time of the year when the tides are naturally highest, sometimes referred to as "king tides."

“If we had no storm at all the tides would be higher than normal,” Hurley said.

The massive offshore storm is producing onshore winds that will make the tides even higher. The winds also have the effect of piling water up in streams and waterways and not letting them drain normally into the ocean. On top of that, heavy rain will be falling upstream, further enhancing the flood risk.

The storm will linger through three high tide cycles, ramping up the concerns for flooding along the coast from the Chesapeake Bay to the Delmarva and on to New Jersey, he said.

All that water may have nowhere to go, "and it causes the next high tide to be even higher," he said. "Then it becomes a compounding problem.”

On Friday, AccuWeather advised of major risks related to the storm from the Jersey shore and into southern Long Island, Cape Cod and the eastern Massachusetts coastline.

Gusts up to 80 mph are expected along northern Long Island and into Cape Cod, AccuWeather said. Saturated soils could make trees more susceptible to toppling, and rain bands of 4 to 8 inches are forecast between Long Island and Boston.

The strong low-pressure system, centered just offshore on Sept. 26, is commonly referred to as a nor'easter, a strong winter storm that primarily affects the mid-Atlantic and New England states.

Nor'easters bring strong northeasterly winds that blow in from the ocean ahead of the storm, according to the weather service. While it resembles a hurricane in satellite images, it's not a hurricane. But the gusts can exceed hurricane force in intensity, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, parent agency to the weather service.

When storms rapidly intensify offshore, winds blow warm air inland from over the Atlantic Ocean water, while colder Arctic air moves south over the East Coast. The temperature difference is the fuel that feeds nor'easters.

Dinah Voyles Pulver, a national correspondent for USA TODAY, writes about violent weather, climate change and other news. Reach her at dpulver@usatoday.com or @dinahvp on Bluesky or X or dinahvp.77 on Signal.