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A nor'easter threatens eastern New England with heavy rain and flooding this weekend
September 24, 2026
A powerful storm that formed off the Carolinas is moving up the East Coast, bringing heavy rain, strong winds and coastal flooding to eastern New England.
A strong El Niño has been building this year, and in winter that pattern tends to steer storms across the southern US and up the East Coast.
NBC News and The New York Times agree that a strong storm born off the Carolinas is heading north, and that eastern New England bears the brunt of it over the weekend. The New York Times expects the heaviest effects on Cape Cod, Rhode Island, the eastern half of Massachusetts and the Maine shoreline, with five to seven inches of rain possible on Cape Cod and its neighboring islands. Bob Oravec said, “The knowns are that there’s going to be a strong storm off the New England northeast coast.” Oravec is a National Weather Service meteorologist, according to The New York Times.
NBC News looks farther south. Its forecast calls moderate to major flooding likely anywhere between North Carolina and Nantucket, and it singles out the Virginia Beach and Norfolk area, where water could rise 1 to 3 feet. The outlet adds that Saturday night's full moon could push tides higher still. By its count, waves could build to 12 feet at the Jersey shore town of Ocean City and to as much as 22 feet off New England. The New York Times, citing Oravec, puts waves at six to 10 feet right at the shoreline and above 15 feet farther out to sea. The two outlets measure waves in different places, so their figures sit comfortably together. For New York City, The New York Times expects little more than light rain and wind.
Both outlets say forecast models still split on where the storm goes. In The New York Times account, a westward path spreads more rain over towns from North Carolina to New England, while an eastward one leaves many of them fairly dry. Flooding and heavy rain in eastern New England are firm; how far west the storm swings, and how much rain reaches inland areas, is still open.
Still developing
The storm's exact track was still coming in at the time of draft, and forecast models still disagree.
How settled the reporting is
Sources
- NBC News — Rare September Nor’easter set to slam East Coast with heavy rain, damaging winds
- nytimes.com — A Powerful Nor’easter Is Taking Shape. How It Could Affect Your Forecast. - The New York Times
Toggle read the full reports of all 3 outlets counted on this event.