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September 30, 2026 - Nor'easter Slams the East Coast
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A powerful and unusual autumn nor’easter battered the East Coast of the United States from September 23 – September 29, 2026. Damage along the coast was extensive, with heavy coastal beach erosion, power outages affecting thousands, destructive flooding, flight delays, cancellations of concerts and shows, and heavy wind damage in some locations. North Carolina Route 12 on Pea Island buckled under the storm, making travel impossible for several days. Maximum wind gusts of 81 miles per hour (130 km/h) were reported at Montauk, New York on September 26.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this true-color image of the storm on September 26.
At the time this image was captured, the center of the storm was roughly 170 miles (274 km) southeast of Atlantic City, New Jersey. Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York were taking the brunt of the heavy rain, strong winds, and severe storm surge at that time, but bands of cloud and rain reached into Ontario and Quebec, Canada as well as the U.S. states of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and southern Maine.
While nor’easters can occur in the fall, most are winter storms that deliver heavy snow across the New England and the Mid-Atlantic United States. Such storms are called “nor’easters” because, thanks to the counter-clockwise rotation of the storm, the damaging wind that slams the coast comes from the northeast.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 9/26/2026
Resolutions:
1km (2.2 MB), 500m (6.2 MB), 250m (4.5 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
A powerful and unusual autumn nor’easter battered the East Coast of the United States from September 23 – September 29, 2026. Damage along the coast was extensive, with heavy coastal beach erosion, power outages affecting thousands, destructive flooding, flight delays, cancellations of concerts and shows, and heavy wind damage in some locations. North Carolina Route 12 on Pea Island buckled under the storm, making travel impossible for several days. Maximum wind gusts of 81 miles per hour (130 km/h) were reported at Montauk, New York on September 26.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired this true-color image of the storm on September 26.
At the time this image was captured, the center of the storm was roughly 170 miles (274 km) southeast of Atlantic City, New Jersey. Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York were taking the brunt of the heavy rain, strong winds, and severe storm surge at that time, but bands of cloud and rain reached into Ontario and Quebec, Canada as well as the U.S. states of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and southern Maine.
While nor’easters can occur in the fall, most are winter storms that deliver heavy snow across the New England and the Mid-Atlantic United States. Such storms are called “nor’easters” because, thanks to the counter-clockwise rotation of the storm, the damaging wind that slams the coast comes from the northeast.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 9/26/2026
Resolutions:
1km (2.2 MB), 500m (6.2 MB), 250m (4.5 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
