New Englanders prepare for extratropical storms, or nor’easters, each winter. However, climate change will increase the frequency and severity of tropical storms in the summer months.

Tropical storms, or hurricanes, are quicker-moving and have intense impacts that include high winds, storm surge, and inland and coastal flooding. Hurricanes can exacerbate flooding caused by high tides or periods of intense rainfall. Storm surge, or the rise in sea level caused by a storm, is the most deadly element of a coastal storm. This surge is primarily caused by the force of winds, with additional surge due to low atmospheric pressure in the eye of the storm.

Meteorologists calculate storm tides as the height of storm surge added to the height of high tide. When a tropical storm arrives during an astronomical high tide event, the resulting storm tide is incredibly destructive.

These maps show the track of the Great Storm of 2038 over Cape Ann. The Great Storm is a Category 3 hurricane.

Category 3 hurricanes are defined by sustained wind speeds of 111 to 129 miles per hour. During a category 3 storm, trees may be uprooted and snapped, roadways may be blocked, framed houses can incur damage, and electricity and water may be unavailable for days to weeks after the hurricane dissipates.

The following visualizations show the intensity of wind, waves, and rain during the storm across Essex, Gloucester, Manchester-by-the-Sea, and the entire Cape Ann region.

The summer of 2038 is the rainiest in two decades. On August 17, a tropical storm forms off the leeward side of Cape Verde.

The storm intensifies across the Atlantic Ocean, turning into a Category 3 hurricane as it skirts the Bahamas. Meteorologists raise a Tropical Storm Watch for the Mid-Atlantic, projecting it will track east.

It doesn’t. The storm spins toward the Northeast Seaboard. On September 1, as tourists pack their cars to head to the coast for Labor Day weekend, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issues a Storm Warning for Essex County.

By 3 a.m. on September 2, scientists and residents are bracing for the storm. Meteorologists raise the alarm that the storm will make landfall during an astronomical high tide.

Cape Ann waits for the storm to arrive. In Gloucester, fishermen turn off their alarms as rain lashes the ships berthed in the Inner Harbor. Wind from the south pushes the highest waves into Gloucester Harbor.

In Rockport, the storm overwhelms Bearskin Neck.

In Manchester-by-the-Sea, the storm floods the Town Hall, ending emergency operations early in the storm.

In Essex, the storm strands residents who refused to evacuate on Northern Conomo Point.

Salt sprays into freshwater streams, quarries, and reservoirs across Cape Ann. Roadways weakened by years of high-tide flooding buckle during the storm. The hurricane roars across the Cape, overwhelming public systems and infrastructures that have already been degraded by climate change.

The storm downs millions of trees, cuts off power for over one million households, and strands hundreds of thousands of New Englanders.

Federal and state governments are overwhelmed by the scale of destruction across the region. The President issues a Major Disaster Declaration to deploy federal personnel and the National Guard to Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Rhode Island. A combination of downed powerlines, washed out roadways, and debris slow the response outside of major cities. Smaller cities and municipalities receive little assistance for the first few days after the storm. Residents are left to ration their supplies and survey the damages to their property and surroundings.

The toll of the storm is visible on the ground in Cape Ann.