Type Nor'easter Dissipated November 9, 2010 Maximum snowfall or ice accretion 5.2 inches | Formed November 6, 2010 Lowest pressure 985 mbar (hPa) Damage unknown | |
The Early November 2010 Nor'easter was an unusual, early season coastal storm that affected New England and Atlantic Canada. It developed from an area of low pressure off the New England coast, that moved northward, then curved southwest, due to a high pressure to its west. Once off the New England coast, it began to rapidly intensify, exhibiting traits of a tropical system, including the formation of an eye. It attained a minimum central pressure of 985 millibars on November 7, and after turning southwestward, it made landfall in Provincetown, Massachusetts and southeastern Massachusetts at maximum intensity.
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The coastal storm caused the first snowfall of the season over southern New England, with snowfall totals generally ranging from 0.5–3 inches across southern New England, with higher amounts in Northern New England. The developing storm also caused minor to moderate coastal flooding on the eastern coast of Massachusetts. As of November 8, National Grid reported over 75,000 power outages across New England, due to high winds, which gusted over 60 mph. The National Weather Service issued several wind advisories and coastal flood warnings across New England, due to the strong winds and coastal flooding.
Meteorological history
The storm originated in an upper-level low pressure system that moved northward off the coast of New England. Once south of Atlantic Canada, the system rapidly intensified, and absorbed the remnants of Hurricane Tomas. Accuweather forecaster Joe Bastardi noted that "according to all weather events,no other storm has taken a track like this, as it curved back to the southwest once north of Cape Cod, making landfall in southeastern Massachusetts, and then moving to the south of New England.The noreaster has been compared to the other storms, including the Christmas 1994 Nor'easter, as well as the 1991 Perfect Storm, because all three systems exhibited traits of a tropical system, and all took similar tracks.
New England
In Massachusetts, coastal flooding associated with the cyclone swamped coastal roadways and houses, leading to isolated road closures. . In addition, moderate beach erosion occurred along east coast of Massachusetts. Up to 3 feet (0.91 m) of seawater flooded some homes in the region. Stong wind gusts over 60 mph downed many trees and powerlines in Northern New England, resulting in 75,000 power outages in Northern New England, and approximately 6,000 power outages in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. Dozens of schools in Maine were also closed due to power outages.
Atlantic Canada
While the storm was south of Nova Scotia, moisture from Hurricane Tomas was fed northward into a strengthening low pressure, which resulted in heavy rains, and up to 2 inches of rainfall across much of Atlantic Canada. It was previously thought that the storm system off the New England coastline would continue to move northward into Atlantic Canada. However, by the evening of November 7, it became obvious that a high pressure to the west of the system, would force the storm to curve southwestward, where it would also affect New England.