April 11, 1934 Weather Map of Northeastern US and the Maritimes

Image courtesy http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue

Conditions across the northeast were ripe for strong winds around April 12, 1934, even without taking local topography into account. On April 11, an area of low pressure was moving across Lake Erie. By the next day, it split into two, with its one low remaining in the Great Lakes Region, while a second centered over Long Island. Meanwhile, as is typical during meridional flow in the region, an area of high pressure sat over Nova Scotia, just to the northeast of New Hampshire. The areas of high and low pressure were so close together that they created a dramatic pressure gradient, which is what makes air move as wind. The greater the pressure gradient, the more quickly air moves from high to low pressure and the faster the wind blows (Clark, 2008).