Dangerous nor'easter plows toward east coast

The effects of the nor’easter, which could linger through Saturday or beyond, are expected to stretch as far south as Georgia and South Carolina, all the way north to Maine.

Weather officials say 10 inches of snow — or perhaps more — could blanket parts of New York; some areas of New England could get 3 to 4 inches of rain; and some coastal towns are expected to be hit with winds of 50 mph or more.

Alerts have been issued up and down the coast, but Kim Buttrick, a meteorologist at the Weather Service’s office in Taunton, Massachusetts, said the state’s east coast — from Cape Ann south to Cape Cod and Nantucket — was expected to experience some of the most severe flooding.

The Weather Service said roads, basements and other structures in those areas could become inundated by 3 feet of water or more, adding that the most severe coastal flooding was likely to occur during the high tides Friday night and Saturday afternoon.

“This storm has the markings of setting records,” she added. “The anticipated coastal flooding could change the topography of coastal communities.”

The dire messages prompted Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York to activate the state Emergency Operations Center on Thursday. Also Thursday, Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts said he had called in the National Guard, noting that the flooding in his state was predicted to be even more severe than what occurred during a storm in January.

The Jan. 4 storm gained much attention in part because some meteorologists described it as a “bomb cyclone.” (The name essentially derives from how quickly the barometric pressure falls.) Meteorologists say the pressure in the center of this weekend’s storm will plummet so fast that it, too, is likely to become a bomb cyclone.

Buttrick said the storm was essentially an area of low pressure that was moving northeast — strengthening and spiraling before it comes to a halt for about two days.

While the system spins north, the strong winds will whip out around it, Buttrick said, churning up the seas and adding to the conditions that, along with “astronomically high tides” and other factors, could create the catastrophic flooding.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

Dangerous nor'easter plows toward east coast

The effects of the nor’easter, which could linger through Saturday or beyond, are expected to stretch as far south as Georgia and South Carolina, all the way north to Maine.

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