This is no April Fool's joke.

A powerful early April nor'easter storm is forecast to wallop the East Coast with rain, wind, pounding surf, and maybe even some unwelcome snow next week.

AccuWeather said coastal areas should see the worst impact.

Rain is forecast to fall all the way from Florida to Maine from late Monday into early Wednesday. 

The rain could be heavy enough to cause urban and poor drainage area flooding as well as significant water rises on small streams from Louisiana to Virginia.

Since it's April, almost all of the precipitation that falls will be rain, although some accumulating snow is possible in the mountains of North Carolina and Virginia, the National Weather Service said.

Snow could also whiten areas of the interior Northeast, including portions of Pennsylvania, New York and New England.

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"Given that it will be early April, temperatures will be marginal and the time of day of precipitation will influence actual accumulation," the weather service said.

These type of storms are called "nor'easters" because they usually bring strong northeast winds over the East as they move north along the Atlantic Coast.

Historically, nor'easters have brought the East Coast its heaviest snowfalls. If these storms are unusually intense and develop quickly they are known as "bomb cyclones."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No foolin! Nor'easter to bring rain, wind and maybe snow to East Coast next week

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