Nor'easter possible along East Coast next week

By Miguel Llanos, NBC News A nor'easter winter storm could hit the Mid-Atlantic and New England next week, the National Weather Service warned, but said the impact would be nowhere near as devastating as Superstorm Sandy. The storm may affect the regions anywhere between "Election Day (Tuesday) into next Thursday," the service's prediction center stated. Increasing winds along coastal New England Tuesday onward "may lead to some coastal flooding and beach erosion," it added. Mid-Atlantic states could also see some damage if the system becomes more westerly. "It should be noted that this system is expected to be much weaker than Hurricane Sandy and produce impacts much less extreme and mainly away from the region most strongly impacted by Sandy," the center stated. The Weather Channel echoed that scenario. "At this time it looks as though coastal impacts would be farther north along the New England coast than we saw with Sandy," wrote weather.com winter weather expert Tom Niziol. "Snowfall would be confined to northern New England. Also, this system will not be anywhere as impactful as Sandy. That being said, it is much too early to discuss details and we will need to keep a close eye on future forecasts to fine tune the evolution of this system." More content from NBCNews.com: 'Pure mayhem' as New York City tries to get back to work Wind, flames, Our Fathers: The inside story of Breezy Point's terrible night War veterans hit Sandy's front lines for rescues, cleanup NYC-area airports up and running, albeit slowly New York trick-or-treaters defy Sandy to celebrate Halloween As National Guard comes to rescue, so do NJ residents — with power outlets How to avoid post-storm insurance and repair scams For some New Yorkers, it's back to business as usual New Jersey investigating reports of price gouging Your Sandy photos: Show us the heroes in your life Sandy's aftermath: How you can help Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook