The December 1960 nor'easter was a significant early-season winter storm that impacted the Mid-Atlantic and

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

regions of the

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. Moderate to heavy snowfall fell from West Virginia to eastern Maine, amounting to 10 in (25 cm) or more in parts of 13 states and peaking at 21.4 in (54.4 cm) at

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.low pressure area In meteorology, a low-pressure area, low area or low is a region where the atmospheric pressure is lower than that of surrounding locations. Low-pressure areas are commonly associated with inclement weather (such as cloudy, windy, with possible ...

which formed over the western

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on December 10. A secondary low developed over South Carolina on the next day, supported by the merger of two troughs aloft. Sliding southeast of New England, the new storm explosively deepened to become a full-fledged

nor'easter A nor'easter (also northeaster; see below), or an East Coast low is a synoptic-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast. The original use ...

, with a minimum central air pressure of 966

mbar The bar is a metric unit of pressure, but not part of the International System of Units (SI). It is defined as exactly equal to 100,000 Pa (100 kPa), or slightly less than the current average atmospheric pressure on Earth at sea lev ...

. It began to weaken over the Canadian Maritimes. Widespread blizzard conditions wrought havoc on transportation; streets and highways throughout the hardest-hit areas were clogged with stalled and abandoned vehicles, and multiple major airports were forced to close. Many schools and businesses were closed, some for days after the storm departed. The

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed ...

opened an hour late on December 12, marking its first delayed opening in over 25 years. Extensive drifting of snow left communities isolated and unable to receive deliveries of food and heating fuel. Overall, the storm and subsequent cold snap were blamed for at least 286 deaths across a wide area, but primarily in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and the New England states. The fatalities resulted from a multitude of tragedies, including automobile and maritime accidents, storm-related fires,

carbon monoxide poisoning Carbon monoxide poisoning typically occurs from breathing in carbon monoxide (CO) at excessive levels. Symptoms are often described as " flu-like" and commonly include headache, dizziness, weakness, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. Large ...

, over-exertion, and exposure to cold.

Meteorological history

The nor'easter occurred during a positive phase of the

North Atlantic oscillation The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is a weather phenomenon over the North Atlantic Ocean of fluctuations in the difference of atmospheric pressure at sea level (SLP) between the Icelandic Low and the Azores High. Through fluctuations in the ...

(NAO), though negative NAO values are typically considered optimal for snowstorms in the northeastern United States. It was the first of three severe storms during the 1960–1961 winter season.Kocin and Uccellini, p. 391 It originated in an area of low pressure that developed over the western

on December 10, downstream from an upper-level cyclone.Kocin and Uccellini, p. 397 The surface low tracked northward to Oklahoma before turning eastward as it gradually intensified. Simultaneously, a

shortwave trough A shortwave or shortwave trough is an embedded kink in the trough / ridge pattern. Its length scale is much smaller than that of and is embedded within longwaves, which are responsible for the largest scale (synoptic scale) weather systems. Sho ...

swung southeastward around the periphery of a large vortex over central and eastern Canada. As the upper low opened up into a negatively tilted trough and began to interact with the northern wave, a secondary surface cyclone developed along a frontal boundary over South Carolina late on December 11. Almost immediately thereafter, the original low dissipated over West Virginia. Heading toward the northeast, the incipient storm emerged into the Atlantic Ocean near

Cape Hatteras Cape Hatteras is a cape located at a pronounced bend in Hatteras Island, one of the barrier islands of North Carolina. Long stretches of beach, sand dunes, marshes, and maritime forests create a unique environment where wind and waves shap ...

, North Carolina, at 00:00 UTC on December 12. With strong upper-level support—including extensive

positive vorticity advection Positive vorticity advection, or PVA, is the result of more cyclonic values of vorticity advecting into lower values of vorticity. It is more generally referred to as "Cyclonic Vorticity Advection" (CVA). In the Northern Hemisphere this is positive ...

and dual divergent jet streak regions—the storm explosively intensified into a powerful nor'easter. From 00:00 to 12:00 UTC on December 12, the system deepened by 27 mbar while moving to a point south of Nantucket. By contrast, the widely accepted criterion for " bombogenesis" is a 24-mbar central pressure drop in 24 hours. Its core pressure ultimately fell to 966 mbar by 00:00 UTC the next day, while located off the coast of southwestern Nova Scotia.Kocin and Uccellini, p. 398 A rapidly tightening pressure gradient north of the cyclone generated strong winds throughout coastal New England. The storm started to slowly weaken as it moved over the Canadian Maritimes on December 13 and 14.

Impact

The initial low pressure system yielded minor snow accumulations in a wide swath of the Great Plains and Midwest. The nor'easter itself dropped much more significant snowfall over the Mid-Atlantic and New England, with 10 in (25 cm) or greater amounts reported in 13 states from West Virginia to Maine. As much as 20 in (50 cm) of snow fell in small areas of northern New Jersey and eastern Massachusetts. The greatest snowfall total associated with the storm was 21.4 in (54.4 cm) at

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

; 14.1 in (36 cm) at

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

; 14.6 in (37 cm) at

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

; 17 in (44 cm) at

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; 13.4 in (34 cm) at Hartford, Connecticut; 13 in (33 cm) at Boston, Massachusetts; and 14.9 in (38 cm) at

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...

. The storm was rated a "major" Category 3 on the

Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale The Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale (NESIS) was created to measure snowstorms in the U.S. Northeast in much the same way the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale records hurricane intensity and the Enhanced Fujita Scale with tornadoes. The Scale NES ...

(NESIS), and a "significant" Category 2 on the

Regional Snowfall Index The Regional Snowfall Index (RSI) is a scale used by NOAA to assess the societal impact of winter storms in the eastern two-thirds of the United States and classify them into one of six categories. The system was first implemented in 2014, and is ...

(RSI), an updated counterpart to the NESIS. In parts of southern and eastern Virginia, the snow mixed with sleet and

freezing rain Freezing rain is rain maintained at temperatures below freezing by the ambient air mass that causes freezing on contact with surfaces. Unlike a mixture of rain and snow or ice pellets, freezing rain is made entirely of liquid droplets. The rain ...

, creating particularly treacherous road conditions. Seven deaths and numerous injuries resulted from traffic accidents in the state, primarily in the

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

and Lynchburg areas.Hodges, p. 133 The heavy snow combined with strong winds to create widespread and dangerous blizzard conditions, worsened by very cold temperatures left in the wake of a prior

cold front A cold front is the leading edge of a cooler mass of air at ground level that replaces a warmer mass of air and lies within a pronounced surface trough of low pressure. It often forms behind an extratropical cyclone (to the west in the Northern ...

. Wind gusts reached on Block Island and on Nantucket. As it pulled away, the large storm system reinforced the Arctic air mass over the eastern United States, with below-normal temperatures persisting for several days; in northwestern Pennsylvania, nighttime temperatures were as cold as . Both during after the storm, persistent gale-force wind gusts produced extensive blowing and drifting of snow. Rough seas and high tides buffeted large sections of shoreline, inflicting damage to boats and coastal installations.Hodges, p. 131 A fishing vessel in length capsized off the coast of Maryland, killing two men, and one fatality was attributed to a maritime incident in New York waters. The

U.S. Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mul ...

rescued six fishermen whose vessel had run aground at a

jetty A jetty is a structure that projects from land out into water. A jetty may serve as a breakwater, as a walkway, or both; or, in pairs, as a means of constricting a channel. The term derives from the French word ', "thrown", signifying some ...

near the entrance to the Nantucket Harbor. The storm prompted the closures of public and private schools, businesses, offices, and factories throughout the Northeast. In some areas—such as the city of Boston and parts of New Jersey—classes were canceled for the entire week following the snowstorm. In New York City, student attendance remained extremely low in the days after schools reopened. The New York Public Library was forced to close its main location and all of its 80 branches. Non-essential government offices in Washington, D.C. were also closed because of the storm. Air and ground transportation came to a halt, with multiple major airports closed and rail service suspended. At La Guardia and Idlewild (now John F. Kennedy International) airports alone, over 100 flights were canceled. Railroads reported tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue and storm-related expenses. Snow drifts reaching in height and abandoned vehicles rendered many roadways impassable. With some communities effectively isolated, supplies of food and heating fuel began to run short. The

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arrived in New York City to clear obstructions from streets and allow snow removal work to get underway. In total, 19,000 workers were tasked with clearing snow in New York City, restoring "near normal" conditions after several days. The northbound Jersey Turnpike became choked with miles of stalled vehicles, and a large stretch of the

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was closed after "an unestimated number of motorists were marooned". At the latter, dozens of state troopers and turnpike employees helped stranded drivers find shelter amid the dangerously cold conditions; at a restaurant in Kennebunk, police ordered 180 motorists to remain inside until the highway could be cleared. In Boston, vehicles stranded in city streets blocked emergency responders from reaching fire situations; such delays were likely responsible for several additional fatalities. A large fire in

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, claimed 10 buildings at the height of the storm, with damages estimated at over $1 million. By December 15, newspapers had attributed 286 deaths to the blizzard, including 54 in New York, 51 in New Jersey (later confirmed as 52), 26 in Pennsylvania, and 71 in the New England states. Fatalities related to the storm and associated cold snap were far-reaching, involving 23 states. A wide variety of factors contributed to the high death toll, including over-exertion, exposure to cold, transportation accidents, structural fires, and carbon monoxide poisoning. The storm caused some isolated power failures along its path. In north-central Virginia, telephone and electricity lines were damaged. The blizzard cut electricity to all of Newtown, Connecticut, though it was mostly restored within hours. In Rhode Island, Block Island and some inland towns were without power.Hodges, p. 132 Short-lived power outages affected southern New Hampshire. Occurring at an important time for

Christmas shopping The economics of Christmas are significant because Christmas is typically a high-volume selling season for goods suppliers around the world. Sales increase dramatically as people purchase gifts, decorations, and supplies to celebrate. In the ...

, the storm had a significant economic impact. In the week after the blizzard, national sales fell as much as seven percent relative to the corresponding week in 1959. The

opened an hour late on December 12 in its first delayed opening since 1934.

References

;General * * * ;Specific

External links

Meteorological history

Impact

See also

References

External links