At a Glance

The East Coast was impacted by four nor'easters in three weeks.The fifth storm off the East Coast is too far offshore to be a nor'easter.

The East Coast experienced four nor'easters in the first three weeks of March and a fifth storm lurks off the coast.

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Luckily for the winter-weary,thisstorm did not track up the East Coast like the previous systems. This fifth low-pressure system moved far enough offshore that it doesn't qualify as a nor'easter.

Image Source: NOAA/RAMMB/CIRA

Theimage above was taken Tuesday morning before the sun had risen over most of the U.S.

Although this system may not be a nor'easter, it is still an intense storm that will continue to intensify over the Atlantic Ocean. This latest low-pressure system has developed the classic comma-shaped appearance typically seen in satellite imagery with powerful storms, just like the previous four nor'easters.

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This system will track northwestward through Tuesday and will briefly stall well offshore early Wednesday.

The edge of this latest storm in the western Atlanticis more than 200 miles from the Northeast coast.

Due to its distance from land, the only impacts expected are minor coastal flooding and beach erosionalong the New Hampshire and southern Maine coasts at the time of high tide on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.

Infrared satellite image from GOES-16 on the morning of March 27, 2018.

The minor coastal issues along a small stretch of the East Coast is vastly different from the impacts of heavy snow and strong winds that Winter Storms Quinn, Riley, Skylar and Toby delivered, including power outages, downed trees andserious coastal flooding.

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The Northeast can breathe a sigh of relief that this system was not the fifth nor'easter in less than four weeks. However, an active and cold pattern likely will persist into early April.