Why The NorEaster Gets Stuck

Readers have asked why Monday's Nor'easter will get temporarily stalled over Massachusetts, spreading heavy rain and snow into New England. We saw this first on the DGEX in my "Weird Model Hype" blog entry Wednesday. The answer is simple, meteorologically. Two high pressure systems have conspired to block the system from moving northeast.

This is something that rarely happens to Nor'easters, but when it does, it can result in severe flooding, coastal erosion and heavy snows. This is the equivalent of a Tropical Storm or Hurricane getting "stuck" over Massachusetts (but worse because there's still enough cold air to bring heavy snows).