Usually but not always occurring in winter or involving snow, nor’easters are often violent storms that begin in the Southeast and grow stronger as they move north along the Eastern Seaboard. Most frequent and intense from September to April, they form in the latitudes between New Jersey and Georgia, within a hundred miles of the coast. They typically reach maximum intensity in New England and Canada’s Maritime Provinces, and may bring rain, snow, strong winds, rough seas, and flooding.

The roots of nor’easters extend to the polar jet stream, which carries frigid Arctic air south across the Canadian and US plains. These winds often veer east toward the Atlantic Ocean and converge with warm air that tends to move north from the Gulf of Mexico along the Atlantic coast. When warm winds associated with the Gulf Stream current meet cold winds, a low pressure system arises, with the difference in temperatures often generating violent storms.

It’s worth noting that the technical definition of a nor’easter is winds blowing northeast off the ocean. In some cases, storms along the Eastern Seaboard involve winds out of the southeast or east. While they may have much the same impact, they are not actually considered nor’easters.