Nor'easter sweeps the Northeast

A massive nor'easter is hitting the U.S. Northeast this weekend with heavy rain, flooding, and wind gusts over sixty miles per hour from the Midatlantic to Maine.

Coastal flooding reaches Sandy levels

Coastal flooding has submerged roads in New Jersey, including Atlantic City, where water levels reached heights unseen since Superstorm Sandy.

What makes a nor'easter

Named for northeast winds, nor'easters derive energy from ocean heat like hurricanes but have cold cores and linger longer over areas.

“A nor'easter, like a hurricane, derives some of its energy from the heat of the ocean.”

Warming intensifies the strongest storms

Climate scientists say human-caused warming allows the atmosphere to hold more moisture, making intense nor'easters bring heavier rainfall and stronger winds.

“Human-caused warming is leading to higher precipitation totals with these storms.”

Storm count stays same, intensity rises

The total number of nor'easters is not increasing, but the strongest ones are becoming more extreme with greater storm surge and wind damage.

“Not every storm is becoming more intense, but the intense storms are becoming more intense.”

Billion-dollar disasters accelerating

Billion-dollar weather disasters now strike every ten days in the U.S., down from once every eighty-two days in the nineteen eighties, and will worsen until emissions stop.

“Until we stop increasing the amount of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, the intensity of rainfall, the intensity of these storms, will continue to increase as well.”