Why The Hudson Valley Dodged Nor’easter’s Worst, 80 Degrees Ahead

The nor'easter that hit the Hudson Valley this weekend brought wind gusts over 50 mph, downed trees, and scattered power outages, but the Hudson Valley actually dodged the worst of it. Here's why and what's coming this week.

The nor'easter that battered the Northeast this weekend turned out to be exactly what forecasters warned it could be, a slow-moving, disruptive coastal storm that refused to leave quickly.

Here's Why The Hudson Valley Dodged The Worst Of The Nor'easter, And What's Coming This Week

John Moore, Getty Images

For the Hudson Valley, the story ended up being more about what we avoided than what we got.

Wind gusts topped 50 mph across parts of the region Saturday, bringing down fully leafed trees and causing scattered power outages throughout the area, especially in the Lower Hudson Valley.

As Hudson Valley Post noted last week, late September wind events are very hard on trees that still have all their leaves. That played out exactly as forecasters predicted.

The reason the Hudson Valley avoided the worst of it comes down to track. The storm was captured by a separate atmospheric disturbance and ended up sitting and spinning near New Jersey and Long Island for more than 24 hours, keeping the most severe conditions along the coast where flooding swamped homes, businesses, and vehicles.

That position kept the most violent conditions and the heaviest rainfall focused along the immediate coastline rather than pushing them inland into our region. At the shore, the story was far more serious, with massive waves relentlessly battering beaches, feet of water flooding homes, businesses, and vehicles along the coast.

Goofy Storm For The Hudson Valley

Mario Tama, Getty Images

Meteorologist Ben Noll described it as a "goofy storm." The storm's unusual motion, which weather experts flagged last week, was the primary reason the forecast was so complicated.

A storm that stalls, spins, and meanders behaves differently than one that races through, and this one lingered long enough to make a mess along the coast while the Mid-Hudson Valley caught a less severe version of the same system.

Westchester County Got It The Worst

Ryan Murphy, Getty Images

For the Hudson Valley, Westchester County got battered the most with strong winds and flooding across the Lower Hudson Valley.

Large waves battered communities along the Long Island Sound in Westchester County, while winds brought down trees and power lines. Flooding was also reported along the Hudson River in Rockland County, where rising water closed roads in West Haverstraw and Stony Point.

80 Degrees In October?

a close up of a thermometer in the sand

By Tuesday, the storm will be a memory, and what follows is going to feel nothing like early October.

Noll says the region will actually turn summer-like later in the week, driven by warmth being pushed across the country ahead of Hurricane Polo, which is crossing Mexico Monday before its remnants move through the Southwest and fuel heat across much of the country.

For the Hudson Valley, here's how the week shapes up.

• Monday will likely see continued rain, at least through the morning.
• Tuesday brings warmer temperatures as the sun returns.
• Wednesday continues the warming trend with a mix of clouds and sun.
• Thursday is expected to be the warmest day of the week with humidity on the rise.
• Friday stays warm as a front approaches with a chance for a shower.

Temperatures could actually reach 80 degrees, or higher, on Thursday and/or Friday in the Hudson Valley. That's very rare for October!

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Looking further out, temperatures appear to turn cooler during the week of October 5th, with a possible transition to a drier-than-normal pattern that could last into mid-October.