Why so many Nor'Easters?!

Spring is around the corner! This week in fact, on Tuesday, March 20th, and the Northeast is coming up on its 4th Nor'Easter this month.

Why so much snow and rain? What is with this pattern? How long will it continue? When will spring arrive!!!

Predicted: Tuesday 3/20/18 at 8pm ET (Blue Snow / Green Rain)

Why so much stormy weather? This pattern is occurring due to a stationary High pressure system over the Atlantic Basin. This is known as the blocking high, which sets up near Greenland and Iceland. The placement of this high pressure allows for the increasing the potential for cold, stormy weather in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The longer the high pressure sits - the longer the pattern is likely to continue. As we have seen this March - a weekly recurrence of Nor'Easters.

In more technical terms, it is a common feature of a pattern known as the negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). During a negative NAO, air pressure rises in the high latitudes of the North Atlantic. This will then cause the jet stream to sink further south in the eastern part of North America and cold air to drop down and infiltrate the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. In this pattern, coastal storms tend to form in this gap between the cold air dropping down over the land and milder wet air that is over the ocean.

So what does this all mean? It means more wet/cold stormy weather will be targeting the northeast this week. See our forecasting page for NYC and LI forecasts.

When will it all stop? Spring temperatures are predicted to be above normal this year for most of the country, however it also looks to be a bit more rainy for the northern half. See images below for further details!

Hopefully within the next 3 weeks - spring temperatures will be creeping upon us! Especially for the northeast.

See images below for the spring season temperature and precipitation predictability.