An unusual May nor\u2019easter is set to wallop New England on Thursday, providing a soaking before the Memorial Day holiday weekend with weather more commonly associated with fall and winter.
\n
\nNor\u2019easters usually arrive in the end of fall and winter and bring high winds, rough seas and precipitation in the form of rain or snow. This week\u2019s nor\u2019easter could bring wind gusts over 40 mph and up to 2 inches of rain in some areas. Snow is even possible at high elevations.<\/p>\n
A nor\u2019easter is an East Coast storm that is so named because winds over the coastal area are typically from the northeast, according to the National Weather Service. The storms can happen at any time of the year, but they are at their most frequent and strongest between September and April, according to the service.
\nThe storms have caused billions of dollars in damage in the past. They usually reach the height of their strength in New England and eastern Canada. The storms often disrupt traffic and power grids and can cause severe damage to homes and businesses.
\n\u201cWe have a stronger jet stream, which is helping intensify a low pressure system that just happens to be coming up the coast. And so that\u2019s how it got the nor\u2019easter name,\u201d said Kyle Pederson, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Boston.<\/p>\n
The heaviest rain is likely to fall in Rhode Island and southern and eastern Massachusetts, Pederson said. Localized nuisance flooding and difficult driving conditions are possible Thursday, and catastrophic flooding is not expected.
\nThe storm is then expected to pass, leaving light rain and patchy drizzle, on Friday.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s just really a nice dose of rain for the region \u2014 not expecting much for flooding,\u201d Pederson said.
\nSnow is expected to be confined to mountainous areas, but accumulations there are possible.<\/p>\n
Nor\u2019easters are usually winter weather events, and it is unusual to see them in May. They typically form when there are large temperature differences from west to east during winter when there is cold air over land and the oceans are relatively warm.
\nBut right now there is a traffic jam in the atmosphere because of an area of high pressure in the Canadian Arctic that is allowing unusually cold air to funnel down over the Northeast. The low pressure system off the East Coast is being fueled by a jet stream that is unusually south at the moment.
\n\u201cIt really is a kind of a winter-type setup that you rarely see this late,\u201d said Judah Cohen, seasonal forecast director at the private firm Atmospheric and Environmental Research.
\nIf this type of pattern in the atmosphere happened two months earlier, he said, \u201cwe\u2019d be talking about a crippling snowstorm in the Northeastern U.S., not just a wet start to Memorial Day weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n
The unusual May nor\u2019easter is expected to bring a soggy Memorial Day weekend to New England, with rain and snow expected in some areas. The storm is a rare occurrence for this time of year and is being fueled by a unique combination of atmospheric conditions.<\/p>\n
Q: What is a nor\u2019easter?
\nA: A nor\u2019easter is an East Coast storm that is so named because winds over the coastal area are typically from the northeast.
\nQ: Where will the heaviest rain fall?
\nA: The heaviest rain is likely to fall in Rhode Island and southern and eastern Massachusetts.
\nQ: Is snow expected?
\nA: Yes, snow is expected to be confined to mountainous areas, but accumulations there are possible.
\nQ: Why are nor\u2019easters rare in May?
\nA: Nor\u2019easters are usually winter weather events and are rare in May because they typically form when there are large temperature differences from west to east during winter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Unusual May Nor’easter to Bring Soggy Memorial Day Weekend to New England An unusual May nor\u2019easter is set to wallop New England on Thursday, providing a soaking before the Memorial Day holiday weekend with weather more commonly associated with fall and winter. Nor\u2019easters usually arrive in the end of fall and winter and bring high […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":15307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15306","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-weather"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/media.nbcmiami.com\/2025\/05\/AP25141657556498.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&fit=6991,3932&w=1920&resize=1920,1079&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15306"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15306"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15308,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15306\/revisions\/15308"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/miami\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}