Nor'easter Storm, Not Joaquin, the Concern Along US East Coastal States

Yesterday I was watching the Weather Channel when New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was giving detailed storm preparation instructions.  He discussed the two southernmost Jersey counties and how they were especially susceptible to flooding.  Around the governor on the TV screen, the Weather Channel had "Joaquin" in large letters and was showing projected paths for this hurricane, which was then (and still now) almost stationary in the Bahamas...and growing stronger and stronger.  But Christie wasn't addressing Joaquin: he was referring to the massive cold front storm, commonly known as a "nor'easter", that was spreading up the east coast of the United States.  He said that his sources had predicted heavy flooding and winds up to 75 mph (minimal hurricane force winds).  Crews were on the beaches desperately trying to deposit enough sand there to hold back the storm surge in order to prevent ocean encroachment on the inland...

Today the focus seems to be on the Carolinas, especially lowland South Carolina where 12 to 18 inches of rain are forecast over the weekend.  It is another part of this nor'easter, not related to Joaquin.  As for the hurricane, at this writing it remains in its "spot" in the Bahamas and has strengthened to a powerful Category Four with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph, but its projected future path has shifted during the past 24 hours from hitting the US mainland between North Carolina and Massachusetts early next week to completely missing land, going much further east in the Atlantic.  The funny thing about this is that, among the several computer models for its trajectory given a couple of days ago, the "European" model (which was the one model that worked with Hurricane Sandy back in 2012) diverged greatly from the others in that it had Joaquin doing just what it is now predicted to do and miss everyone...except possibly Bermuda...