Rare May nor'easter brings rain and chance of snow to New England before Memorial Day

SCARBOROUGH, Maine (AP) — An unusual May nor'easter soaked New England on Thursday and threatened to bring snow to higher elevations as the states prepared for the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

Nor'easters usually arrive in the end of fall and winter and bring high winds, rough seas and precipitation in the form of rain or snow. This week's nor'easter could bring wind gusts over 40 mph (64 kph) and more than 2 inches (5 centimeters) of rain in some areas. Forecasters said snow was possible in the mountains of Maine and New Hampshire.

The storm brought dark skies to New England during a time of year usually reserved for sunshine and cookouts. It was also unseasonably cold, with temperatures below 50 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) in Portland, Maine; Providence, Rhode Island; and Montpelier, Vermont. The storm was expected to linger into Friday.

A nor'easter is an East Coast storm that is so named because winds over the coastal area are typically from the northeast, according to the National Weather Service. The storms can happen at any time of the year, but they are at their most frequent and strongest between September and April, according to the service.

The storms have caused billions of dollars in damage in the past. They usually reach the height of their strength in New England and eastern Canada. The storms often disrupt traffic and power grids and can cause severe damage to homes and businesses.

“We have a stronger jet stream, which is helping intensify a low pressure system that just happens to be coming up the coast. And so that’s how it got the nor’easter name,” said Kyle Pederson, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Boston.

The storm hit Boston with heavy rains and stiff wind starting Thursday morning. Southern Massachusetts was also dealing with heavy rains that made for messy morning and evening commutes.

The heaviest rain was expected to fall in Rhode Island and southern and eastern Massachusetts, Pederson said. Localized nuisance flooding and difficult driving conditions were possible Thursday, but catastrophic flooding was not expected.

Providence was hit with wind and steady rains by midafternoon. Further north, in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, lobster boats shook on the water as high winds brought choppy seas.

More than 60 flights were canceled Thursday at Boston Logan International Airport, where there were also more than 300 delayed flights. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority shut down three commuter ferries because of rough seas.

There were other cancellations and service disruptions in some coastal areas, including a shutdown of the Block Island Ferry because of adverse sea conditions.

Coastal flood advisories and gale warnings were issued for many coastal areas of New England and New York on Thursday.

The storm was then expected to pass, leaving light rain and patchy drizzle, on Friday.

“It's just really a nice dose of rain for the region — not expecting much for flooding,” Pederson said.

Snow was expected to be confined to mountainous areas, but accumulations there were possible.

Nor’easters are usually winter weather events, and it is unusual to see them in May. They typically form when there are large temperature differences from west to east during winter when there is cold air over land and the oceans are relatively warm.

But right now there is a traffic jam in the atmosphere because of an area of high pressure in the Canadian Arctic that is allowing unusually cold air to funnel down over the Northeast. The low pressure system off the East Coast is being fueled by a jet stream that is unusually south at the moment.

“It really is a kind of a winter-type setup that you rarely see this late,” said Judah Cohen, seasonal forecast director at the private firm Atmospheric and Environmental Research.

If this type of pattern in the atmosphere happened two months earlier, he said, “we’d be talking about a crippling snowstorm in the Northeastern U.S., not just a wet start to Memorial Day weekend.”

O'Malley reported from Philadelphia.

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As rain from a nor'easter falls on the pavement, a flock of Canada geese traverse through a parking lot, Thursday, May 22, 2025, in Londonderry, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Bird watchers look out under dark skies at Kettle Cove State Park, Thursday, May 22, 2025, in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. (AP Photo/Patrick Whittle)

As rain from a nor'easter falls on the pavement, vehicles roll north on Route 93 during the start of the Memorial Day holiday travel, Thursday, May 22, 2025, in Londonderry, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

FILE - Snow weighs down trees in Concord, N.H., April 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Kathy McCormack, file)

FILE - Plows, at right, try to pass nearly stopped traffic, due to weather conditions, on Route 93 South, March 14, 2023, in Londonderry, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, file)

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel is “closely monitoring” the fallout from widespread Iranian protests, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to attack Iran could escalate the protests within the borders of the Islamic Republic into a regional war.

“The people of Israel, the entire world, are in awe of the tremendous heroism of the citizens of Iran,” Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting. He condemned the killing of civilians and said he hoped to rebuild relations between Israel and Iran once the country was “freed from the yoke of tyranny.”

Netanyahu and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke overnight Saturday about a number of issues, including Iran, according to an Israeli official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

But Israel’s military said there are no new guidelines for civilians to stay close to bomb shelters due to concerns about an attack of Iranian missiles, as there have been in the past when there were concrete threats.

The Israeli military said the protests in Iran are an “internal Iranian matter,” but that the military “will be equipped to respond with power if need be.”

A former Israeli intelligence official said Israel is unlikely to instigate an attack against Iran, even though Israel could have an easy target as Iranian leadership is weakened and distracted by the protests roiling the country.

“From an Iranian standpoint, the last thing Iran wants to see is diverting their attention towards Israel,” said Danny Citrinowicz, who once headed research on Iran in one of the Israeli military's intelligence branches and is now a senior researcher with the Israeli defense think tank the Institute for National Security Studies.

“Their priority, first and foremost, is to retrieve the calmness and stability in Iran."

The current situation in Iran is so uncertain that Israel is likely to wait and see what will happen next, Citrinowicz said. He added that “neither side has an appetite” to start a new round of the 12-day war this past summer.

The war began with Israel targeting Iranian nuclear and military sites, saying it could not allow Tehran to develop atomic weapons and that it feared the Islamic Republic was close. Iran has long maintained that its program is peaceful.

Israeli strikes on Iran killed 1,190 people and wounded another 4,475, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. Iran’s missile barrages killed almost 30 people in Israel and wounded 1,000.

On Sunday, Iran’s parliament speaker warned the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America strikes the Islamic Republic. Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf made the threat as lawmakers rushed the dais in the Iranian parliament, shouting: “Death to America!”

Trump, who has posted a number of times on social media about Iran over the weekend, has a history of following through on threats to attack. “Do not play games with President Trump. When he says he’ll do something, he means it,” the State Department warned on Saturday.

Citrinowicz said that an attack, either American or Israeli, could have the opposite impact on the protests, possibly even weakening the protests by fostering a sense of patriotism and uniting against a common enemy.

The U.S. both brokered the ceasefire and assisted Israel during the Israel-Iran war this past summer, by dropping bunker-buster bombs on multiple Iranian nuclear sites — a move that was crucial for Netanyahu to declare to the Israeli public that Israel had achieved its objectives against Iran’s nuclear program and accept Trump's truce.

“What Israel is really concerned with is ballistic missiles, and stuff like that, not what kind of regime is going to be in Iran,” said Menahem Merhavy, an expert on Iran from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

“Unless there’s something really dramatic happening with missiles, I don’t see Israel stepping into this."

And an Iranian attack against Israel would be “a suicide note for the regime,” Merhavy said, because there will be little outcry if Israel responds strongly against the Iranian leadership given the outcry over their hardhanded response to the protests. “There are few tears that will be shed if, say, Israel kills the minister of foreign affairs,” Merhavy said.

He noted that Israel could help on the margins, like enabling internet access to certain individuals or leaders, but said even that is doubtful.

“Israel doesn’t want to meddle with this. It’s internally an Iranian matter,” Merhavy said.

FILE - Iranian protestors burn representations of the Israeli and U.S. flags during a protest to condemn Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, after the Friday prayers ceremony in Tehran, Iran, Friday, June 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi), File)