Why there’s been nearly a week of unusually cold, wet weather in the Mid-Atlantic

Since the remnants of Hurricane Ian moved into the Mid-Atlantic region Friday, there have been gusty winds, heavy rain and chillier conditions. Before they could improve, a coastal storm, born from the old swirl of Ian, parked itself just off the Mid-Atlantic shore, keeping chilly, damp weather going.

But peaks of sunshine were expected to work their way back into the Mid-Atlantic on Wednesday, marking the end of nearly winterlike weather for the past five days.

Here is a recap of the week’s stormy conditions:

Hurricane Ian was initially lifted north by a dip in the jet stream. While the dip was enough to cause landfall in Florida and the Southeast, it was not enough to grab the storm and send it into the North Atlantic to die down.

Instead, blocking high pressure to the north – and a jet stream that went into hiding – allowed Ian’s vortex to stall in the Mid-Atlantic. As it did so, a coastal low developed, feeding the region with chilly air and rain for days on end.

The prolonged storminess set up a long fetch of northeast winds, which fed the coastal flooding risk.

The mix of Ian and the coastal storm it spawned brought heavy rain and major flooding.

While the tides did not rise as high as forecast in coastal Virginia and historic flooding was not observed, there was minor to moderate damage. Tidal gauges along the Atlantic climbed just below moderate flood stage, with a gauge near Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel exceeding its moderate flood stage marker.

Across southeastern Virginia’s Hampton Roads area, widespread coastal flooding prompted some schools to close or delay early in the week. It caused some minor damage to a fishing pier at Hampton’s Buckroe Beach, and gusty winds from Ian’s remnants blew feet of sand onto beach access walkways and onto the boardwalk, forcing crews to make repairs.

Drifting sand was a problem farther north, climbing to the doorsteps of businesses along the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland. In New Jersey, onshore winds caused minor coastal flooding in seaside towns such as Stone Harbor and Avalon.

In Atlantic City, sirens were triggered Tuesday to warn residents of rising waters along the coast. The storm left behind by Ian triggered several rounds of moderate coastal flooding in the area, causing minor damage and significant beach erosion.

The heaviest rainfall was reported in the New Jersey area. More than 5 inches of rain has fallen at the National Weather Service’s office in Mount Holly since Friday, the office tweeted. On Sunday alone, Atlantic City picked up just over 3 inches of rain, a daily record. Since Friday, the city has seen 5.85 inches of rain.

Over the past five days, a widespread 6 to 10 inches has fallen along the Jersey Shore. The rainfall jackpot appears to have been Barnegat Township, N.J., where one gauge tallied 11.94 inches.

In the Virginia Beach area, on-and-off wetness over the past five days has led to widespread totals of 3 to 5 inches.

Onshore flow from the coastal storm also brought unusually chilly October weather to the Mid-Atlantic. Temperatures in Allentown, Pa., did not climb above 50 degrees Tuesday, 2 degrees cooler than the old record, which was set in 2010. Allentown also saw a daily record rainfall total of 2.08 inches.

Salisbury, Md., also saw its coldest high-temperature record lowered from 56 to a brisk 52, while in Norfolk, Va., the temperature on Tuesday could rose only to 54 degrees, breaking the record-low maximum temperature of 58, set in 1974.

With rainfall finally coming to an end, and the storm system moving off, temperatures across the Mid-Atlantic should warm back into the 70s – with widespread sunshine – on Thursday.