Nor'easter Blasts Massachusetts Coast; Gusts To 94 MPH

The Duxbury, Massachusetts Fire Department posted
this photo of nor'easter damage in that town this morning.

Thank goodness the big nor'easter stayed off the coast.  

Had it come closer or moved just inland, virtually all of New England would have had an incredibly destructive blow.  

Since this one stayed offshore, most of the havoc is south and east of Interstate 95 in southern New England.

There's plenty of havoc, though! As many suspected,the storm really over-performed in terms of wind along and near the Massachusetts coast.  Edgartown, on Martha's Vineyard, gusted to 94 mph early this morning. Other wind reports include gusts to 87 mph in Scituate, 84 mph in Duxbury  and several gusts over 80 mph on Cape Cod.

The storm was rapidly strengthening when those high wind gusts hit. You tend to get the highest winds in a nor'easter when the storm is in its fast building stage. 

The National Weather Service was advising everyone along and east of Interstate 95 to stay indoors this morning because so many trees and wires were falling.  At last check, more than 400,000 people in Massachusetts had no electricity. 

Luckily, there was a fairly sharp cut off between destructive winds to the east and not so bad to the west. Gusts were mostly in the 40 to 45 mph range north and west of Interstate 95, so there weren't too many problems once you get inland. 

Even though astronomical tides were low, there was still storm surge flooding and immense, crashing waves hitting shore. 

Today's nor'easter hit just days before the 20th anniversary of the Perfect Storm, that famous storm depicted in the book and movie. Though this nor'easter isn't quite as bad as the Perfect Storm, it's still a powerhouse.

The winds will this nor'easter will slowly diminish through the day as the storm center lumbers gradually to the east and out to sea.  It might take on some tropical characteristics once it's way out there, but at that point won't be any threat to land.

Here in Vermont, the only effects we'll see from the nor'easter today are some gusty winds reaching at times to 30 mph.  That won't cause any problems other than ripping much of the remaining fall foliage from the trees. Some sunshine will develop today as well, giving us a break from two days of gloom.

The next storm comes along Friday night and Saturday. Unlike some forecasts that were made earlier in the week, this next storm doesn't look all that scary.  I guess no spooky weather moments for Halloween this year.

We'll get a decent slug of rain Friday night and Saturday, but it will be a typical storm. Maybe a half to three quarters of an inch of rain.  There had been some fears that the upcoming storm might carry the risk of damaging winds, but now we see that won't happen. 

Just plan your indoor stuff for Saturday and your outdoor stuff for Sunday, as the storm will have pretty much departed by then.