NU Online News Service, March 8, 3:32 p.m. EST
Insured losses from the winter storm that hit the East Coast between Feb. 23 and Feb. 28 will be between $150 million and $350 million, AIR Worldwide said.
Total insured losses from two prior storms, which occurred between Feb. 4 and Feb. 7 and Feb. 9 and Feb. 11, respectively, are estimated by the Boston-based catastrophe modeling firm at between $400 million and $1 billion.
"The third winter storm to slam the Northeast coast last month reached its height on Friday, Feb. 26, impacting nine states in the Mid-Atlantic and New England through Saturday," Peter Dailey, director of atmospheric science at AIR Worldwide, said in a statement.
The storm, a powerful low pressure system, originated off the Mid-Atlantic coast, intensifying as it came ashore. It moved slowly into New York Friday morning and gradually dissipated over New England over the weekend before moving out to sea.
Combining heavy snowfall, flooding rain and impressive winds, some of which reached hurricane strength, the storm left Manhattan with nearly 21 inches of snow in a 36-hour period.
As a weather event it set an all-time New York record for snow in the month of February. It also set a record there for accumulation in a single day. Elsewhere, snowfall totaled more than two feet over parts of eastern New York State and western Massachusetts. West Halifax, Vt., received 38.5 inches of snow.
"The repeated impact of winter storms in the Mid-Atlantic region in recent weeks has been influenced in part by the ongoing strong El Ni?o conditions," explained Mr. Dailey.
"The presence of anomalously warm waters in the east Pacific during El Ni?o shifts the global atmospheric circulation in such a way as to displace the jet stream pattern over North America to the south. The storms that form in these conditions are more likely to impact states in the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic areas," he related.
When storms follow each other in such quick succession, as they have in recent weeks, there is little time for accumulated snow to melt, Air noted. As a result, the potential for roof damage is increased. As with the two earlier storms, damage caused by snow accumulation is expected to be a major source of insured losses from this latest event.
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