1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:02,760 Speaker 1: Streaming TV shows and movies directly to your home is 2 00:00:02,759 --> 00:00:05,560 Speaker 1: a breeze with Netflix. As a Netflix member, you can 3 00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:09,040 Speaker 1: instantly watch TV and movies on your PC, Mac, mobile device, 4 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:12,440 Speaker 1: or television. Get a free thirty day trial membership. Go 5 00:00:12,520 --> 00:00:15,200 Speaker 1: to Netflix dot com slash stuff and sign up today. 6 00:00:15,840 --> 00:00:19,160 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff from how Stuff works dot com where 7 00:00:19,160 --> 00:00:30,120 Speaker 1: smart happens. Hi Am Marshall Brain with today's question, what 8 00:00:30,320 --> 00:00:34,159 Speaker 1: is a northeaster? Nor Easters can occur in the eastern 9 00:00:34,280 --> 00:00:37,879 Speaker 1: United States anytime between October and April, when moisture and 10 00:00:37,920 --> 00:00:41,599 Speaker 1: cold air are plentiful. They're known for dumping heavy amounts 11 00:00:41,600 --> 00:00:45,320 Speaker 1: of rain and snow, producing hurricane force winds and creating 12 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:50,480 Speaker 1: high surfs that caused severe beach erosion and coastal flooding. Obviously, 13 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:52,839 Speaker 1: this looks a lot like a hurricane, so when a 14 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:56,040 Speaker 1: big nor Easter comes through, it's gonna make the news. 15 00:00:56,600 --> 00:00:59,560 Speaker 1: Nor Easter is named for the winds that blow in 16 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:02,520 Speaker 1: from the northeast and drive the storm up the East 17 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:05,440 Speaker 1: coast along the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream is a 18 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:08,160 Speaker 1: band of warm water that lies off the Atlantic coast 19 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:11,399 Speaker 1: of the United States. There are two main components to 20 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 1: a northeaster. First, there's the Gulf Stream low pressure system. 21 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:19,560 Speaker 1: These systems generate off the coast of Florida. The air 22 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:23,759 Speaker 1: above the Gulf Stream warms and spawns a low pressure system. 23 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:28,199 Speaker 1: This low circulates off the southeastern US coast, gathering warm 24 00:01:28,319 --> 00:01:32,520 Speaker 1: air and moisture from the Atlantic Ocean. Strong northeasterly winds 25 00:01:32,520 --> 00:01:34,720 Speaker 1: at the leading edge of the storm pull it up 26 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:39,240 Speaker 1: the east coast. Second, there's an Arctic high pressure system. 27 00:01:39,280 --> 00:01:42,920 Speaker 1: As the strong northeasterly winds pull the storm up the coast, 28 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:46,560 Speaker 1: it meets with cold Arctic air blowing down from Canada. 29 00:01:46,880 --> 00:01:49,840 Speaker 1: When the two systems collide, the moisture and cold air 30 00:01:49,920 --> 00:01:52,639 Speaker 1: produce a mix of precipitation and a lot of wind. 31 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:56,920 Speaker 1: Winter conditions make nor'easters a normal occurrence, but only a 32 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 1: handful actually gather the force and powered cause problems inland. 33 00:02:02,120 --> 00:02:05,480 Speaker 1: The resulting precipitation depends on how close you are to 34 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:09,280 Speaker 1: the converging point of the two storms. A powerful nor'easter 35 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 1: can bring travel to a standstill, closing city streets and 36 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:16,880 Speaker 1: making it nearly impossible to get anywhere for days. The 37 00:02:16,960 --> 00:02:20,320 Speaker 1: thing to remember with northeasters is that the storm systems 38 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: occur frequently, but only a few of them are powerful 39 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:26,120 Speaker 1: enough to make it into the news. There are two 40 00:02:26,160 --> 00:02:30,560 Speaker 1: types of northeaster's offshore farming. These are the storms you 41 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:33,720 Speaker 1: hear about in the news. It's a newsworthy storm that 42 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:37,320 Speaker 1: moves east of the East coast cities, dumping lots of 43 00:02:37,320 --> 00:02:41,560 Speaker 1: heavy snow. In an offshore farming storm, the hardest hit 44 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:45,520 Speaker 1: metropolitan areas are likely to be Washington, d C, Philadelphia, 45 00:02:45,600 --> 00:02:49,000 Speaker 1: New York City, in Boston. Eventually, the system moves far 46 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 1: enough north that the Canadian jet stream pushes it off 47 00:02:52,240 --> 00:02:56,160 Speaker 1: the coast, and then there's onshore farming. These storms are 48 00:02:56,240 --> 00:03:00,280 Speaker 1: less exciting than offshore farming storms. They move westst of 49 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:05,520 Speaker 1: East coast cities with gusting winds and mostly rain. For 50 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:07,840 Speaker 1: more on this and thousands of other topics, does that 51 00:03:07,919 --> 00:03:10,240 Speaker 1: how stuff works dot com and don't forget to check 52 00:03:10,240 --> 00:03:12,160 Speaker 1: out the brain stuff blog on the house stuff works 53 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:14,800 Speaker 1: dot com home page. You can also follow brain stuff 54 00:03:14,840 --> 00:03:22,320 Speaker 1: on Facebook or Twitter at brain stuff hsw Streaming TV 55 00:03:22,400 --> 00:03:24,720 Speaker 1: shows and movies directly to your home is a breeze 56 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:27,720 Speaker 1: with Netflix. As a Netflix member, you can instantly watch 57 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:31,320 Speaker 1: TV and movies on your PC mac, mobile device or television. 58 00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:34,600 Speaker 1: Get a free thirty day trial membership. Go to Netflix 59 00:03:34,639 --> 00:03:36,680 Speaker 1: dot com slash stuff and sign up today.