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Winter Home • Winter Basics • Preparing for Winter Weather • Responding to Winter Weather
Occasionally more damaging than hurricanes, nor'easters have a deserved reputation as Virginia's worst winter storms. Nor'easters are the result of two pressure systems sitting just offshore over the Atlantic. The counterclockwise rotation of a low pressure system and the clockwise rotation of a high pressure system combine to bring wind and moisture to the East Coast from the Northeast, hence the name.
The ferocity of the storm depends on how strong the two systems are. These storms can erode low-lying coastal areas with damaging surf, glaze the land with thick layers of ice or blanket wide swaths of the state under snow. Although nor'easters might form from November through April, they are often at their worst in January and February.