Coastal nor'easter targeting multiple locations up and down the Eastern Seaboard
While a rapidly strengthening storm will mostly dodged Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York City, it will spread gusty winds, rough surf, rain and snow to eastern New England on Wednesday.
The storm brought rare accumulating snow to parts of the Carolinas on Tuesday. This is only the second time in April that at least 0.1 of an inch of snow fell on Charlotte, North Carolina, since 1915. Parts of Union County, North Carolina, received at least 2 inches of snow from the storm.
Snow in the south is a difficult task in general. However, to accumulate during the middle of the day like it did on Tuesday is extremely rare.
Gusty winds and heavy rain blasted eastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia.
As of noon on Wednesday, the storm produced over 10,000 lightning strikes; pushed water levels to 3.08 feet above normal at Cape Hatteras, North Carolina; and brought wind gusts to 66 mph at Avon, North Carolina. Winds gusted to 49 mph at Nantucket, Massachusetts.
As AccuWeather warned about early last week, while the nor'easter will had adverse impacts in the southeastern and coastal northeastern United States, its most dangerous conditions will stay over the nearby Atlantic Ocean.
The storm became a bomb cyclone, where the central barometric pressure in the storm plummets at least 0.71 inches in 24 hours. In fact, the central pressure on the storm plummeted .92 inches in 24 hours.
Dangerous conditions expected at sea
Seas will build surrounding the Maritime Provinces of Canada and remain rough off the New England coast.
A man watches the surf as heavy seas continue to come ashore in Wintrhrop, Mass., Saturday, March 3, 2018, a day after a nor'easter pounded the Atlantic coast. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Gusts near the center of the offshore storm may approach hurricane force (74 mph or greater), while well offshore seas of 15-25 feet are likely with locally higher winds and waves.
In this situation, small craft should remain within the protection of the Intercoastal Waterway and large vessels such as cruise ships and freighter should consider an alternate route or delay their departure or arrival to ports along the mid-Atlantic, New England and Maritime coasts.
With the new moon during the early morning hours on Friday April 5, and given that astronomical tides are a bit higher a couple of days prior to the new or full moon, coastal flooding may be a bit worse with this storm, when compared with other storms that remain offshore.
Storm's impact to hug Northeast coast
Areas from southeastern Connecticut to central Massachusetts, coastal New Hampshire and central Maine can expect some wind from the storm into Wednesday.
However, like coastal areas in the South, eastern Long Island, southeastern Massachusetts, Down East Maine, Nova Scotia Prince Edward Island and southeastern New Brunswick can expect nor'easter conditions. These areas will be hit with drenching rain and a stiff wind.
Communities such as as Scituate, Plymouth and Sagamore, Massachusetts, should be prepared for some overwash and coastal flooding. Even Boston may have some minor problems with the storm.
Gusts topping 60 mph can occur on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and the islands.
"Just enough cold air will be available for snow to fall in part or during much of the storm from east-central Maine to central New Brunswick," according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Brett Anderson.
A few inches (10 centimeters) or more may fall in these northern areas. The heaviest snow is likely to fall on central New Brunswick, where an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 16 inches (41 centimeters) is forecast.
Snow may mix in at times in parts of southern New Hampshire and central Massachusetts.
In the wake of the storm, increasing west to northwest winds will raise the risk of brush fire ignition and rapid spread. Even though the ground may be wet, grass, leaves and other brush from the winter are tinder dry.
The greatest risk of brush fires into Wednesday evening will be from the eastern Great Lakes to the mid-Atlantic coast where the ground is bare and it did not rain or has not rained much lately.
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