While situated about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, the storm attained its peak intensity with winds of up to . The nor'easter reached peak intensity at approximately 12:00 UTC on October 30 with its lowest pressure of 972 millibars. The interaction between the extratropical storm and the high pressure system to its north created a significant pressure gradient, which created large waves and strong winds. Between the southern New England coast and the storm's center, the pressure differential was . A buoy located south of Halifax reported a wave height of on October 30. This became the highest recorded wave height on the Scotian Shelf, which is the oceanic shelf off the coast of Nova Scotia. East of Cape Cod, a NOAA buoy located at reported maximum sustained winds of with gusts to , and a significant wave height (average height of the highest one-third of all waves) of around 15:00 UTC on October 30. Another buoy, located at , reported maximum sustained winds of with gusts to and a significant wave height of near 00:00 UTC on October 31.