Significant nor’easter will lash the East Coast this weekend with rain, wind and coastal flooding

By CNN Meteorologist Mary Gilbert, CNN

(CNN) — A nor’easter is about to develop off the Southeast coast and this coastal storm will bring some serious threats along with dreary weather for much of the East Coast into early next week.

The upcoming storm will churn up dangerous seas and drive coastal flooding while also delivering drenching rain and strong winds. The combination of wind and rain will likely lead to travel headaches in the East, and could prove especially disruptive for major airport hubs from Washington, DC, to the greater New York City area.

Its development hinges on the same potent cold front that brought refreshing fall air to millions in the United States. That front is now draped over the Southeast, where it will linger into the weekend.

The nor’easter is expected to develop along that stalled front on Saturday and spread hazardous weather along the coast from the Carolinas to the Northeast through the weekend.

A nor’easter is just a coastal storm named based on the direction from which its winds slam into the coast: northeast. Nor’easters are notorious snow producers in winter, but they can happen at any time of year, bringing heavy rain instead. They’re most frequent between September and April and usually develop between Georgia and New Jersey. The strongest nor’easters are also being supercharged by planet-warming fossil fuel pollution, a July study found.

This nor’easter looks to pack a punch, and its track and strength have come into better focus: The area from North Carolina through New Jersey and into coastal southern New England looks to bear the brunt of the storm’s disruptions.

The nor’easter will develop on Saturday somewhere off the coast between Florida and South Carolina and strengthen on Sunday while hugging coastal North Carolina.

Some areas near the North Carolina coast could receive up to half a foot of rain and gusty winds up to 50 mph. The nor’easter will also contribute to ongoing beach erosion in the state’s Outer Banks, where at least nine unoccupied homes have collapsed into the Atlantic since September 30 due to intense wave action and erosion from recent storms.

Disruptive weather will stretch farther north Sunday and Monday with several inches of rain possible along the rest of the mid-Atlantic coast and into southern New England. Parts of southern Delaware and eastern Maryland could also record up to half a foot of rain. Any areas caught under multiple rounds of this drenching rain could see localized flash flooding.

Powerful winds will accompany this rain with prolonged gusts of 40 to 50 mph possible. Winds will whip along the Southeast coast starting Friday, maxing out later Saturday into Sunday for much of the mid-Atlantic coast. Some of the strongest gusts for New Jersey and southern New England will occur Sunday into Monday.

A multi-day coastal flooding event could also unfold from the Outer Banks and north with tide levels later this week and this weekend just shy of their highest marks of the month.

It will also drive turbulent seas and generate rough surf that could make swimming dangerous for hundreds of miles of coastline.

After the storm moves away from the coast later Monday into Tuesday, the East could get a brief reprieve from the dreary weather. Then, yet another batch of unseasonable heat is expected to set in by late next week.

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CNN Meteorologist Briana Waxman contributed to this report.