nor'easters

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• What's the Origin of "Nor'easter"?

  by Bradley Craig

  In a break from tradition (or perhaps it’s merely the start of a new one) the Weather Channel has given names to the major winter storms from the 2012-2013 season. Time will tell if this has been a particularly snowy winter, but as of the end of February sixteen of the twenty-three proposed storm names have already been used. None were more severe this year than Winter Storm Nemo, which socked the Northeast at the beginning of February, causing power outages throughout the Northeast and killing fourteen people.Nemo was far from the worst of the so-called “nor’easters” which regularly impact New England. Documented since at least the early nineteenth century, nor'easters regularly devastate the eastern coasts of Canada the United States.  Nor'easters typically occur between the months of September and April (so there’s time still yet for another round – in 2007, a powerful nor’easter hit the East Coast in mid-April), and these storms usually cover an area of hundreds of miles or more.  Heavy rain, snow, and winds tend to hit the New England region heaviest, causing flooding, property damage, and coastal erosion.