NYC / Scope of Daylight Savings Nor`easter
UPDATE: This story says that the number of 911 calls set a new record, eclipsing the 2003 blackout and 9/11, for New York City, Suffolk County and Nassau county but NYPD recorded only the 2nd highest day.
I wanted to post these Nor'easter graphics because I think it's important for those of us who don't live in the area to understand how much of an effect this storm had on New York City, Boston, and the coastal area of New England. Seven people were killed by the storm (CNN). 885,000 people lost power at the peak of the storm; 300,000 were still without power Monday evening (Factbox). Those are numbers you normally associate with hurricanes or major icestorms, though a wind storm in February 2009 knocked out a similar number of customers over a wider area including the mid-Atlantic.
Highest Wind Gusts (NWS):
Mount Washington, NH: 91 mph*
Robins Reef, NJ: 78 mph
New York City: 75 mph
Atlantic City: 73 mph**
Bridgehampton, NY: 70 mph*
Milton, MA: 69 mph*
Blue Point, NY: 69 mph
Whether you look at wind speeds reported, wind damage reported (see below) or all wind, hail and flooding reports, this storm was not localized.
*Reported via LSR. Others via OKX PNS. **NWS via Philly.com.
If the graphic or info above doesn't do it for you, consider this: New York City had more 911 calls (presumably about both flooding and downed trees/wires) than anytime in history, except one day, which I suspect was September 11th (the article didn't say).
The reason for this was not only the power of the storm, but the coverage and duration, both of which were closer to a hurricane than a true Nor'easter which affects the immediate coast only, or the less populous eastern Massachusetts coast. The damage was also much larger in scope than that from a severe thunderstorm which (like the July 2009 or August 2007 which I blogged about) can cause similar tree damage, but only in a limited area of the city.
So the question becomes: How long had it been since residents in the area has seen a similar storm? Peoples' memories are short of course, and we humans have a knack for forgetting past weather events, but a lot of our Facebook users were quoting major storms in the past, as far back as 25 or even 50 years ago (see comments below). Some of our younger fans had never seen a storm of this scope.
I jokingly called this "The Daylight Savings Nor'easter" (at the suggestion of one of our Facebook Fans) in the title of this article. But that brings up a good point. People in New York City (as evidenced by the 911 calls and Facebook comments we received) seemed to be unprepared for the storm. We also again posed the question about preparation versus storm names and we're working on a story summarizing what our Facebook Fans said there.
Highest Rainfalls (via NWS BOX PNS):
Woburn, MA: 10.33"
Topsfield, MA: 10.13"
Highest Snowfalls:
Wildcat, NH: 10"
Mount Washington, NH: 17"
Slide Mountain, NY: 11"
Highest Waves:
Buoy #44024: 32 feet
Buoy #44066: 28.5 feet
"This was one of the worst storms in terms of duration, wind, and rain in quite some time here in SE Pennsylvania."
"I live in SE Pennsylvania and the long duration of the powerful winds was the worst I remember since Hurricane Gloria in 1985."
"More trees down on long island than I can remember, worse than the last couple of hurricanes we've had... in Atlantic City this weekend, and it was ROUGH! Some of the roughest seas I've ever seen."
"I am in Staten Island and can remember hurricane Donna in 1960 and Gloria in 1985 and other nior easters and this was the worst that I can remember for the skope of downed trees, awnings etc and power outages (even the blizzard of '96 which was very dry snow)."
"I lived in Stamford CT for more 10 yrs. The storm that hit us last Saturday did more damage than all the past snow storms. The wind caused power outages to several thousand homes and the rain effected flooding to the highest level I had seen."
"I missed the 62 nor'easter (was in PA) and too young to remember 44 hurricane...but this one was worse than anything I remember for the combo of rain / wind"
"I'm in N.Y.C. borough of Staten island probably 1992 nor'easter super mega coastal flooding but not as much tree damage"
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