40+ Photos From The Nor’Easter That Will Show You The Sheer Power Of Mother Nature

The name alone might make you shiver in your boots — but what exactly is a Nor’easter, the powerful winter storm that devastated parts of the country this past week/weekend and once again, barreling through the East Coast? A Nor’easter is pretty much exactly what it sounds like: a storm featuring winds from the northeast off the Atlantic Ocean, affecting the East Coast of the United States. The storms typically develop between Georgia and New Jersey, according to the National Weather Service. “As the storm comes off the coast, you get that northeast wind, kind of a like a low-pressure, counter-clockwise spin,” AccuWeather senior meteorologist Carl Erikson said. Rain began shifting into snow — including heavy squalls that brought white-out conditions — for many parts of the East Coast Wednesday morning including southeast Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey and up the 1-95 corridor to New York City. This major coastal storm was the second storm in a week to wallop The Northeast, with hurricane-force winds, surging seas, whipping rain, and some snow. Though the term is often linked to winter storms, snow is not a meteorological requirement for Nor’easters — as the term can also apply to rain storms. Strong winds, flooding, and choppy seas are all regular features of Nor’easters as well. And the most powerful Nor’easters typically occur from September to April, the Weather Channel reports, so there may be more to come in 2018. Mother Nature (sometimes known as Mother Earth or the Earth-Mother) was focused on the life-giving and nurturing aspects of nature by embodying it, in the form of the mother. Here's her story... Waves crash in Scituate. Jonathan Wiggs / The Boston Globe (Boston.com) The 42-foot fishing vessel Artemis rests on the breakwater near the Provincetown Inn after breaking from its mooring. Merrily Cassidy / The Cape Cod Times via AP (Boston.com) A pedestrian in Boston’s Copley Square. Suzanne Kreiter / The Boston Globe (Boston.com) Downed utility poles on Arsenal Street in Watertown. Josh Reynolds for The Boston Globe (Boston.com) Flooding on East Squantum Street in Quincy. Stan Grossfeld / The Boston Globe (Boston.com) Waves crash into homes in Scituate. Ryan McBride / AFP / Getty Images (Boston.com) A woman and child are rescued from their Quincy home. John Tlumacki / The Boston Globe (Boston.com) Waves crash against a seawall near the Scituate Lighthouse Waves crash against a seawall near the Scituate Lighthouse, Friday, March 2, 2018, (AP Photo/Steven Senne) Water floods from Boston Harbor onto Seaport Boulevard at the Boston Fish Pier. Greg Cooper / EPA-EFE / REX / Shutterstock (Boston.com) A woman and child are rescued from a flooded home on Post Island Road in Quincy. John Tlumacki / The Boston Globe (Boston.com) Burning Electrical Power Line. (Credit: Angrycamb/Twitter) (CBS) Jacob Gurner walks through a flooded backyard after checking on his home in Scituate. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff (Boston.com) A flooded car sits in Houghs Neck in Quincy. Scott Eisen / Getty Images (Boston.com) A front-end loader clears Turner Road in Scituate, which was covered with sand from the storm. John Tlumacki/Globe Staff (Boston.com) A Quincy home is evacuated. John Tlumacki / The Boston Globe (Boston.com) Water floods from Boston Harbor onto Seaport Boulevard in the Seaport district of Boston. Greg Cooper / EPA-EFE/ REX / Shutterstock An uprooted tree blocks a residential street after taking down a power line in Swampscott. Elise Amendola / Associated Press (Boston.com) Seawater violently rolls pounds seawall in Quincy. David L. Ryan / The Boston Globe (Boston.com) A man rows back to a home after going out for supplies in Quincy. David L. Ryan / The Boston Globe (Boston.com) An uprooted tree blocks Tyler Street in Quincy. Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff Oceanside Drive resident Kate McRoberts passes through a flooded Kenneth Road in Scituate. Craig F. Walker / The Boston Globe (Boston.com) A sailboat with a busted mast is covered with seaweed and debris in Quincy. Stan Grossfeld / The Boston Globe (Boston.com) A huge wave crashes onto Oceanside Drive in Scituate. John Tlumacki / The Boston Globe (Boston.com) Police patrol Huckins Avenue in Quincy. Stan Grossfeld / The Boston Globe (Boston.com) Scituate firefighter, Jack Bulman, looks over a flooded Jericho Road while surveying the area with the Massachusetts National Guard. Craig F. Walker / The Boston Globe (Boston.com) Water surges down Ocean Street in Marshfield passing a Jeep, in its path. Barry Chin / The Boston Globe (Boston.com) Dogs were evacuated from a flooded vehicle in Winthrop. Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe (Boston.com) American flags partially torn from their poles fly as a storm producing strong winds passes through Washington REUTERS/Joshua Roberts (AOL.com) A car was left flooded after the driver was removed by the fire department in Winthrop. Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe (Boston.com) Boston’s State Street by Long Wharf. David L. Ryan / The Boston Globe (Boston.com) Waves crash against the boats docked at MacMillan Pier off Provincetown. Merrily Cassidy / The Cape Cod Times via AP (Boston.com) A worker cuts a tree that had fallen on to a house as a storm bringing high winds passes over Kensington, Maryland. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts (AOL.com) Waves crash against the seawall along Turner Road in Scituate, MA. (Photo by Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images - Time Magazine) High winds downed a tree onto power lines, blocking the street and damaging a vehicle in Takoma Park, MD. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images - AOL.com) A man heads across flooded E. Squantum Street in Quincy, Mass. IMAGE: STAN GROSSFELD/THE BOSTON GLOBE VIA GETTY IMAGES Flooding on Scituate Avenue in Scituate. Jonathan Wiggs / The Boston Globe Hoboken Train Terminal. TrainSim.Com A woman gets caught by a wave of heavy seas came ashore in Winthrop, Mass. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer) An uprooted tree in Yonkers, NY. LoHud.com A Revolutionary War-era ship that surfaced after the storm calmed.The wreck was examined by the Maine Historic Preservation Commission and labeled as archeological site ME 497-004. AOL.com So, Why is it called a Nor’Easter? While many assume Nor’easter is the name is a product of some kind of Maine lobsterman accent, that’s probably not true. In their book Origins of the Specious: Myths and Misconceptions of the English Language, Patricia T. O’Conner, and Stewart Kellerman write: The word ‘nor’easter’ is a contraction of ‘northeaster,’ a blustery storm with northeasterly winds. The storm has long been associated with New England, but the term ‘nor’easter’ isn’t native to the land of clam chowdah, according to many linguists and a great many coastal New Englanders. The locals, they say, have always pronounced the word by dropping the two r’s, not the th, making it sound something like ‘nawtheastah.’ Instead, “Nor’easter” seems to come from across the Atlantic Ocean. As far back as the Elizabethan period, the English used “nor'” and “nor’east” to refer to compass points. The Oxford English Dictionary cites the first written usage of “nor’easter” in London in 1837, in a translation of the Aristophanes play The Knights by B.D. Walsh: “Slack your sheet! A strong nor’-easter’s groaning.” The unabbreviated term “northeaster” appeared in print earlier, in the Boston Post-Boy in 1753: “Cap. Savage had a strong North-Easter some Hours before, about 8 Leagues S. W. of the Cape , in which he carried away his Boltsprit, but happily recover’d it again.” (Sources: Boston.com and TIME)

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