Editing Nor'easter (section)

===Characteristics===
Nor'easters are usually formed by an area of [[vorticity]] associated with an upper-level disturbance or from a kink in a frontal surface that causes a surface low-pressure area to develop. Such storms are very often formed from the merging of several weaker storms, a "parent storm", and a polar jet stream mixing with the tropical jet stream.

Temperatures usually fall significantly due to the presence of the cooler air from winds that typically come from a northeasterly direction. During a single storm, the precipitation can range from a torrential downpour to a fine mist. All precipitation types can occur in a nor'easter. High wind gusts, which can reach hurricane strength, are also associated with a nor'easter. On very rare occasions, such as in the [[Northeastern United States Blizzard of 1978|nor'easter in 1978]], [[North American blizzard of 2006]], [[Early February 2013 North American blizzard]], and [[January 2018 North American blizzard]], the center of the storm can take on the circular shape more typical of a [[hurricane]] and have a small "dry slot" near the center, which can be mistaken for an [[eye (cyclone)|eye]], although it is not an eye.

====Difference from tropical cyclones====
Often, people mistake nor'easters for [[tropical cyclones]] and do not differentiate between the two weather systems. Nor'easters differ from tropical cyclones in that nor'easters are [[cold-core low|cold-core low-pressure systems]], meaning that they thrive on drastic changes in temperature of Canadian air and warm Atlantic waters.  Tropical cyclones are warm-core low-pressure systems, which means they thrive on purely warm temperatures. However, in rare cases, such as the [[1991 Perfect Storm]], a small tropical cyclone can develop inside the [[warm seclusion]] of an intense nor'easter if the [[sea surface temperature]]s are sufficiently warm. Nor'easters can rarely also turn into tropical or subtropical cyclones, such as [[October 2021 nor'easter|Tropical Storm Wanda]] in 2021.

====Difference from other extratropical storms====
A nor'easter is a strong [[extratropical cyclone]], often experiencing [[explosive cyclogenesis]]. While this formation occurs in many places around the world, nor'easters are unique for their combination of northeast winds and moisture content of the swirling clouds. Nearly similar conditions sometimes occur during winter in the Pacific Northeast (northern Japan and northwards) with winds from NNW. In Europe, similar weather systems with such severity are hardly possible; the moisture content of the clouds is usually not high enough to cause flooding or heavy snow, although northeasterly winds can be strong.