内容摘要：“That one in 100 years … is likely to go down to once every few decades,” said Ben Clarke, a researcher at the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London and the study’s lead author. “If we continue to burn fossil fuels, events like this will not only continue to occur, but they’ll keep getting more dangerous.”

“That one in 100 years … is likely to go down to once every few decades,” said Ben Clarke, a researcher at the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London and the study’s lead author. “If we continue to burn fossil fuels, events like this will not only continue to occur, but they’ll keep getting more dangerous.”

is set to wallop New England on Thursday, providing a soaking before the Memorial Day holiday weekend with weather more commonly associated with fall and winter.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 up to 2 inches (5 centimeters) of rain in some areas. Snow is even possible at high elevations.

The storm has New Englanders preparing for a messy couple of days during a time of year usually reserved for sunshine and cookouts.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

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 causeto 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 heaviest rain is likely to fall in Rhode Island and southern and eastern Massachusetts, Pederson said. Localized nuisance flooding and difficult driving conditions are possible Thursday, and catastrophic flooding is not expected.Officials in Kansas and Texas also were evaluating damage from late Sunday storms.

The risk of severe storms moves into Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee on Tuesday, the weather service said.The Kentucky storms that killed 19 people were part of a weather system that caused seven deaths in Missouri and two in northern Virginia, authorities said.

Lonnie Nantz hid in a hallway with his wife, two daughters and a grandson as the one-story brick home they bought near London in 1977 was destroyed around them. They were trapped in rubble for about 20 minutes in the midnight darkness before they were rescued unharmed.“I don’t know why this happened. I’ve tried to live a good life all my life. I’ve still got the faith,” said the 77-year-old Nantz, who went to church as always on Sunday.