When you talk about nor'easters, those powerful East Coast storms, you usually think snow. But some nor'easters are known more for their wind, waves and coastal damage. In fact, the most destructive nor'easter on record at the Jersey and Delaware coasts didn't have much snow with it at all. This so-called "Ash Wednesday" nor'easter was pounding away at the shore on this date in 1962.

This storm developed on March 5 off the Carolina coast, as many nor'easters do. But with its path blocked by a high-pressure area to the north, the storm barely budged. The result was a three-day onslaught of battering east and northeast winds and steadily increasing seas. The coastal pounding covered an area 700 miles long from North Carolina to Maine, and the New Jersey and Delaware shores were right in the middle. To make matters worse, the storm hit near the time of new moon, so tides were relatively high anyway.

In the end, damage in the United States ran in the billions, in current dollars, with 22 deaths attributed to the storm. Tomorrow night, I’ll take a closer look at the storm's affects on our local area.