Nor`easter Wind & Rain Stats, Local Flood Chase

UPDATE: Over 500,000 are without power in the Northeast according to the Associated Press.

The Nor'easter is cranking up a rain storm with high winds -- winds have reached around 67 mph in gusts this evening in Atlantic City, NJ and 74 mph at New York City (according to our Twitter page)... wind-swept heavy rain is occurring as far west as here at AccuWeather HQ in Central Pennsylvania, where streams and rivers are rising.

A "blow out tide" has occurred at Brookhaven, New York, taking water levels down to levels lower than some locals have ever seen (where the flag pic above was taken, check out the photos of the low tide on our Photo Gallery). Now, the tide is UP with a storm surge of more than 4 feet at Sandy Hook, New Jersey:

AccuWeather.com Facebook users are talking about the high winds; some are saying they can't remember the last time such a sustained period of heavy rain and high winds has passed. A wide swath of more than 3 inches of rain has fallen on the East Coast according to the NOAA maps, some of which is intercepting the mountains of PA, Maryland and West Virginia where heavy snow melt late this week already had water tables high.

The local creek here in State College (Spring Creek @ Houserville) is already over 6 feet which is where it starts flooding out into the local fields and parks, but I'm out of gas and night has fallen so I'm not taking pictures. I expect a local "flood chase" tomorrow morning as I go out to gather photos and videos of what will be the worst flooding here since at least Hurricane Ivan (which was the worst I've seen in my 13 years here), if not worse. For details on my storm chasing plans and early pictures, follow me on Facebook.

The Conemaugh river at Seward, PA near Johnstown is already over its banks (see photo above) and is forecast to crest tomorrow morning over Major Flood Stage at 16.3 feet. You can get graphs for other local rivers here. That prediction beats what was forecast on Friday; it looked liked earlier today that it might not be as bad as predicted, but heavy rain has overtaken these areas and will continue tonight.