March 2014 Nor'easter
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The March 2014 nor'easter was an extremely powerful
extratropical cyclone Extratropical cyclones, sometimes called mid-latitude cyclones or wave cyclones, are low-pressure areas which, along with the anticyclones of high-pressure areas, drive the weather over much of the Earth. Extratropical cyclones are capable of ...
that affected much of U.S. Gulf Coast, the eastern United States, eastern Canada, and
Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
. It was the most powerful winter storm of the 2013–14 North American winter storm season, being an unusually large winter storm as well, with its
gale-force The Beaufort scale is an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land. Its full name is the Beaufort wind force scale. History The scale was devised in 1805 by the Irish hydrographer Francis Beaufo ...
wind field becoming four times larger than that of
Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...
's extratropical remnant. The storm affected various parts of the Midwest, most of the Eastern Seaboard (especially
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 to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
), as well as eastern Canada, bringing extremely powerful winds (reaching hurricane-force in some areas), and blizzard-like conditions.


Meteorological history

On March 24, an extratropical disturbance developed in the
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...
, just off the coast of
South Texas South Texas is a region of the U.S. state of Texas that lies roughly south of—and includes—San Antonio. The southern and western boundary is the Rio Grande, and to the east it is the Gulf of Mexico. The population of this region is about 4.96 ...
. Within a day, the developing storm crossed over
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, before emerging off the east coast of the
Southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the southern United States and the southern por ...
on March 25. Late on March 25, the winter storm emerged off the coast of the Southeastern United States and began to undergo explosive intensification, becoming a bomb cyclone by March 26, and absorbing another weaker winter storm to the west in the process. However, the storm's path remained off-shore, which resulted in relatively minor impacts to most of the
Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...
. Despite the storm's distance from the coast, the system caused wind damage and blizzard-like conditions across New England and eastern Canada. Powered by moisture coming from the Gulf of Mexico, as well as the opposing
air mass In meteorology, an air mass is a volume of air defined by its temperature and humidity. Air masses cover many hundreds or thousands of square miles, and adapt to the characteristics of the surface below them. They are classified according to la ...
es, the storm quickly became a
superstorm A superstorm is a large, unusually-occurring, destructive storm without another distinct meteorological classification, such as hurricane or blizzard. Origin and usage Before the early 1990s, the phrases " storm of the century" or "perfect st ...
with a
gale-force The Beaufort scale is an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land. Its full name is the Beaufort wind force scale. History The scale was devised in 1805 by the Irish hydrographer Francis Beaufo ...
wind field four times larger than that of
Superstorm Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...
, during the extratropical duration of the latter system, which was extremely unusual for a storm at that time of the year. Later on March 26, the massive nor'easter reached a peak intensity of , shortly before it made landfall in
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...
. The storm also had peak sustained winds of , and maximum gusts up to , while unofficial records measured wind gusts up to . Early on March 27, the superstorm made landfall on Nova Scotia and weakened to a strong
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 o ...
. The storm continued to move towards the north, while gradually beginning to weaken. Later on the same day, the nor'easter weakened to a storm and moved northward into the
Labrador Sea The Labrador Sea (French: ''mer du Labrador'', Danish: ''Labradorhavet'') is an arm of the North Atlantic Ocean between the Labrador Peninsula and Greenland. The sea is flanked by continental shelf, continental shelves to the southwest, northwest, ...
. On March 28, the storm stalled in the middle of the Labrador Sea. Early on March 29, the nor'easter weakened further to a disorganized extratropical storm, even resumed a slow eastward track. Later on the same day, the northern part of the system reached
Disko Bay Disko Bay ( kl, Qeqertarsuup tunua; da, DiskobugtenChristensen, N.O. & al.Elections in Greenland. ''Arctic Circular'', Vol. 4 (1951), pp. 83–85. Op. cit. "Northern News". ''Arctic'', Vol. 5, No. 1 (Mar 1952), pp. 58–59.) is a large ...
, even as it continued to deteriorate. Early on the next day, the storm's center of circulation collapsed as the system became elongated, due to its interaction with a ridge of high pressure over Greenland, even while the system's center of circulation remained off the east coast of Greenland and stalled, weakening to a low. Several hours later, the storm's remnants were absorbed into a frontal zone.


Impacts

Aside from the impacts in
eastern Canada Eastern Canada (also the Eastern provinces or the East) is generally considered to be the region of Canada south of the Hudson Bay/Strait and east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces (from east to west): Newfoundland and Labrador, ...
, the
Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States, also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast, is a geographic region of the United States. It is located on the Atlantic coast of North America, with Canada to its north, the Southe ...
was battered with areas of snow and hurricane-force winds, with winds gusting up to in
Chatham, Massachusetts Chatham () is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. Chatham is located at the southeast tip of Cape Cod and has historically been a fishing community. First settled by the English in 1664, the township was originally called Mo ...
. The snow at
Dulles Airport Washington Dulles International Airport , typically referred to as Dulles International Airport, Dulles Airport, Washington Dulles, or simply Dulles ( ), is an international airport in the Eastern United States, located in Loudoun County and Fai ...
helped push them to their snowiest March on record.Coldest, snowiest March on record at Dulles Airport, snowiest since 1960 in D.C.
Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
, April 1, 2014 The highest snowfall totals were recorded at near
Beech Mountain Beech Mountain is a town in both Avery and Watauga counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 320. The town is located atop Beech Mountain and is the highest town east of the Rocky Mountains ...
, and was measured at Black Mountain, Kentucky.


See also

*
January 2008 North American storm complex The January 2008 North American storm complex was a powerful Pacific extratropical cyclone that affected a large portion of North America, primarily stretching from western British Columbia to near the Tijuana, Mexico area, starting on January 3, ...
*
October 2009 North American storm complex The October 2009 North American storm complex was a powerful extratropical cyclone that was associated with the remnants of Typhoon Melor, which brought extreme amounts of rainfall to California. The system started out as a weak area of low pressu ...
*
March 2010 North American winter storm The March 2010 nor'easter or St. Patrick's Day nor'easter was a powerful nor'easter that impacted the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada from March 12–16, 2010, resulting in at least nine deaths. The slow-moving storm produced ove ...
* December 2010 North American blizzard *
November 2011 Bering Sea cyclone The November 2011 Bering Sea cyclone was one of the most powerful extratropical cyclones to affect Alaska on record. On November 8, the National Weather Service (NWS) began issuing severe weather warnings, saying that this was a near-record (o ...
* February 2013 nor'easter *
March 2013 nor'easter The March 2013 nor'easter was a powerful nor'easter that affected much of the United States, most notably New England. On March 6, the system moved into the Mid-Atlantic region of the east coast, and intensified into a nor'easter, dumping up to 3 f ...
*
Early 2014 North American cold wave The early 2014 North American cold wave was an extreme weather event that extended through the late winter months of the 2013–2014 winter season, and was also part of an unusually cold winter affecting parts of Canada and parts of the north-cen ...
*
February 11–17, 2014 North American winter storm The February 2014 nor'easter was a major nor'easter that produced a damaging snow and ice storm that affected the Southern United States and East Coast of the United States, bringing with it up to a foot of snow and crippling ice across parts of ...
*
March 2014 North American winter storm The March 2014 North American winter storm, also unofficially referred to as ''Winter Storm Titan'', was an extremely powerful winter storm that affected much of the United States and portions of Canada. It was one of the most severe winter storms ...
*
November 2014 Bering Sea cyclone The November 2014 Bering Sea cyclone (also referred to as Post-Tropical Cyclone Nuri by the U.S. government) was the most intense extratropical cyclone (also a bomb cyclone) ever recorded in the Bering Sea, which formed from a new storm developin ...
*
December 2014 North American storm complex The December 2014 North American storm complex was a powerful winter storm (referred to by some as California's "''Storm of the Decade''") that impacted the West Coast of the United States, beginning on the night of December 10, 2014, resulting ...
*
January 2015 North American blizzard The January 2015 North American blizzard was a powerful and severe blizzard that dumped up to of snowfall in parts of New England. Originating from a disturbance just off the coast of the Northwestern United States on January 23, it initially pr ...
*
January 2018 North American blizzard The January 2018 North American blizzard caused widespread severe disruption and blizzard conditions across much of the East Coasts of the United States and Canada in early January 2018. The storm dropped up to of snow in the Mid-Atlantic sta ...
– An extremely powerful nor'easter that surpassed this storm in intensity * March 1–3, 2018 nor'easter


References


External links


Additional Information on the U.S. Winter Storms of 2013–2014
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nor'easter 2014-03 2014 in Texas 2014 in Louisiana 2014 in Mississippi 2014 in Alabama 2014 in Florida 2014 in Georgia (U.S. state) 2014 in Kentucky 2014 in Maryland 2014 in Delaware 2014 in North Carolina 2014 in South Carolina 2014 in West Virginia 2014 in Virginia 2014 in Pennsylvania 2014 in New Jersey 2014 in New York (state) 2014 in Vermont 2014 in New Hampshire 2014 in Massachusetts 2014 in Connecticut 2014 in Rhode Island 2014 in Maine 2014 in Canada Blizzards in the United States
March 2014 nor'easter The March 2014 nor'easter was an extremely powerful extratropical cyclone that affected much of U.S. Gulf Coast, the eastern United States, eastern Canada, and Greenland. It was the most powerful winter storm of the 2013–14 North American wint ...