The east coast of the US can't catch a break. A second storm is bearing down on the beleaguered region as it slowly staggers to its feet after superstorm Sandy.
This time it's a nor'easter, named for strong northeasterly winds that pull the storms up the east coast, that has the north-east in its sights. It's not as powerful as a hurricane, but weather forecasters warn that damaging winds up to 80 kilometres per hour could lash the New York and New Jersey coasts on Wednesday.
In any other November, this wouldn't be a big deal. Nor'easters are common in the winter, when warm air circulating in the Gulf Stream off the south-eastern US travels north and collides with cold air blowing down from Canada. But Sandy severely eroded the natural storm buffers along the shore. The storm isn't expected to dump a lot of rain on the region, but forecasters said to prepare for more flooding and coastal erosion.
"Normally we wouldn't worry about it," said TODAY Show Chief Meteorologist Al Roker. "But this is a potentially dangerous storm only because when we're talking about tides of four to five feet when you have almost no beaches and no dunes, that could be big problems all along the areas already affected by Sandy."
Roker's statement should only be thought of as an approximation. As of this writing, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration model estimate predicts a peak storm tide of 1 metre above normal in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Wednesday night. Other areas of the New York and New Jersey coasts could see tides between .6 and 1.5 metres above normal.
The storm could also take down trees weakened by Sandy - and with them, power lines. That would be bad news for the nearly 2 million people who still don't have power. As cold air blows in behind the storm, people living in homes that still don't have heat may be forced to evacuate, said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.
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