A nor’easter (also northeaster; see below) is a macro-scale cyclone occurring along the upper East Coast of the United States and Atlantic Canada. The name derives from the direction of the strongest winds—as an offshore air mass rotates counterclockwise, winds tend to blow northeast-to-southwest over the land in those regions. Use of the term in North America is associated with several different types of storms, some of which can form in the North Atlantic Ocean and some of which form as far south as the Gulf of Mexico. The term is most often used in the coastal areas of New England and the Mid-Atlantic states. Typically, such storms originate as a low-pressure area that forms within 100 miles (160 km) of the shore between Georgia and New Jersey. The precipitation pattern is similar to th