Strong Nor'easter Could Bring Damaging Winds, Major Coastal Flooding Friday and Saturday

An intense nor'easter will hammer the Northeast beginning Thursday night, lingering into the weekend with the potential for damaging winds, significant, long-lived coastal flooding, beach erosion, heavy rain and snow.

The pieces of this complicated system are beginning to come together now. The same upper-level disturbance that will bring snow to the Midwest and rain to the South will spawn an intense coastal storm, or nor'easter, along the East Coast Thursday night into early Friday.

Thanks to a recent split of the polar vortex and a subsequent westward-shifting blocking high-pressure system near Greenland, the weather pattern will be conducive for this nor'easter to move very slowly, resulting in high winds, coastal flooding, rain and some snow in the Northeast Thursday to Saturday.

For now, there are indications in the forecast guidance this nor'easter will track closer to the coast Friday before very slowly migrating away this weekend.

This will produce strong winds, coastal flooding and beach erosion, along parts of the eastern and southern New England coast, as well as in eastern Long Island, as soon as late Thursday.

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