Nor'easter

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Satellite image of the Nor'easter, which was responsible for the 2006 blizzard . The hurricane-like center of the storm is visible.

A Nor'easter (alternatively Northeaster ; see below, German about northeast storm ) is a large-scale storm whose winds come from a northeast direction and occur mainly on the coast in the northeast of the United States and the Atlantic provinces of Canada . It is a low pressure area with the center of rotation just off the coast and the winds blowing in the leading left quadrant over land from the northeast. The formation pattern is similar to that of other extra-tropical winds . These storms can also cause flooding , coastal erosion and hurricane gusts .

properties

These storms tend to migrate slowly in their later, intense stage. Until the center of the storm passes, the sky is covered with thick dark clouds. During a single storm, precipitation can range from torrential torrential rain to fine drizzle. Low temperatures and gusts of up to 160 kilometers per hour are characteristic of Nor'easter storms. On a few occasions, a nor'easter forms a cyclonic pattern and eye like a hurricane. The North American Blizzard in 2006 was one of those cases.

Often affected areas

The northeastern states and the Atlantic provinces of Canada, especially New England and Nova Scotia, experience Nor'easters regularly, mostly in winter and early spring, sometimes during autumn. The storms can bring significant amounts of rain and snowfall and often last for several days.

The Atlantic coast from the northern tip of Georgia can be affected by strong winds, high waves and extreme rainfall. In this coastal area, the Nor'easters are a major contributor to beach erosion and can flood low-lying areas. Because of this, they are more feared by local residents than the occasional hurricanes , as they occur more regularly and severely damage the coastline and nearby homes and facilities.

Use of the term 'Nor'easter' and its origin

The term "Nor'easter" has its origins in British English and comes from the markings on the compass and the wind directions or the sailing course. According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the term nore for north was first used by Dekker in 1612 ( "How blowes the winde Syr?" "Wynde! Is Nore-Nore-West." ), While the term "noreast" was used for the first time by Davis in 1594 ( "Noreast by North raises a degree in sayling 24 leagues." ). The OED gives the first use of the term nor'easter for the year 1836 in a translation of a work by Aristophanes .

Use of the form nor'easter is common on the east coast of the United States, but is controversial in New England. It is argued that nor'easter has no base in the local dialects and that is why the word is referred to as fake , dismissing the term's historical maritime origin.

The usual pronunciation - in English phonetic spelling - for "nor'easter" is "naw-EE-stuh" (similar to "LOB-stah" for "lobster" ) on the New England coast . Off the coast, for example in Vermont, the emphasis is more likely to be “noar-eastuh” . For decades, Edgar Comee of Brunswick , Maine led a vigorous campaign against the use of the term "nor'easter" in the press. His endeavors, including sending out hundreds of postcards, were described in an article in The New Yorker shortly before his death .

Even so, the term continues to be used by the press. Between 1975 and 1980 journalists used the spelling “nor'easter” in only one out of five cases; in 2003 the ratio was reversed.

The at the University of Pennsylvania teaching linguistics professor Mark Liberman pointed out that although the citations in the OED to 1837 go back, they represent the contributions of a handful of non-resident in New England poets and writers. Liberman thinks that “nor'easter” could originally have been just a literary translation, similar to “e'en” for “even” and “th'only” instead of “the only” , which indicates that the spelling of two syllables serves the purpose of a metric meter and does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the pronunciation at that time.

Known Nor'easter

See also

  • Sou'easter , a similar weather phenomenon with southeast winds

swell

  1. ^ The New Yorker : "Talk of the Town," September 5, 2005 issue
  2. ↑ Jan Freeman, "The Word" . In: The Boston Globe , December 21, 2003 issue
  3. ↑ Mark Liberman, "Nor'easter considered fake . " Language Log , January 25, 2004
  4. ↑ "Southeaster" ( memento of the original from August 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. in the glossary of the American Meteorological Society @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / amsglossary.allenpress.com

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