Studies: Noreasters Already Notably Stronger Than During Mid-20th Century; Trend Linked To Arctic Ice Loss
A pair of new climate studies suggest an intensification of strong storms called nor’easters and other disruptive extremes affecting the East Coast of North America on an overheated planet. Nor’easters generally form within about 100 miles of the East Coast between North Carolina and Massachusetts, often when cooler air from Canada meets warm, moist air over Gulf Stream waters. Those contrasting air masses can start to spin with a nudge from the jet stream, fueling storms that can produce damaging winds, coastal flooding and intense, disruptive snowfall in the winter.
The strongest nor’easters are already significantly windier and rainer than they were in the middle of the 20th century, said University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Michael Mann, a co-author of a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A 2022 study showed a similar trend of intensification for storms forming over the Atlantic and hitting Europe, and that the track of those storms is moving northward, potentially putting unsuspecting areas more at risk.
“There are two reasons to look at the most intense nor’easters,” Mann said via email. “First, from an impact standpoint, they do the most damage, including coastal erosion, destruction and paralyzing snowfalls. The 1962 Ash Wednesday storm, with 84 mile per hour gusts, is a great example. In today’s dollars, it did $21 billion worth of damage.”
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Large-scale changes affecting nor’easters and cold weather extremes in the United States likely include accelerated warming of the Arctic region, climatologist Judah Cohen said in an email interview. Cohen, a visiting scientist at MIT and director of seasonal research with Atmospheric and Environmental Research, published a July 11 study in Science Advances that bolsters evidence for a climate connection. Cohen said that, as far as he’s concerned, the new paper is “preaching to the choir,” because its conclusions are consistent with his own research showing that “Arctic change can lead to episodic increases in severe winter weather in the U.S. east of the Rockies including extreme cold and disruptive snowfalls.”
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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/14072025/northeast-global-warming-impacts-noreasters/