The storm brought an icy mix of snow and rain, stranding hundreds of airplane passengers and leaving more than 400,000 customers around Washington without power. Blinding snow was still hitting parts of New England on Thursday morning.
Public schools closed for a second day and motorists were warned of dangerous road conditions. In New York City, officials declared a snow emergency and even the Statue of Liberty was closed for snow removal.
It was an exhausting spectacle for a region already contending with above-average snowfall this season.
In New York’s Central Park, 15.3 inches (39 centimeters) had fallen while 19 inches hit parts of New Jersey, the National Weather Service reported. Forecasts called for up to 12 inches (30 centimeters) in the Boston area and perhaps 14 inches (36 centimeters) in areas of Rhode Island. In the Philadelphia area, up to 17 inches (43 centimeters) of snow fell by the time the storm moved north.
In Portsmouth, New Hampshire, workers were nearly out of room to stash their plowed snow.
“We probably have a five-story snow dump right now,” said Portsmouth public works director David Allen. “We could probably do a ski run.”
In Massachusetts, travel was made trickier with high winds. Gusts of 46 mph (74 kph) were reported in Hyannis, 45 mph (72 kph) in Rockport and 49 mph (79 kph) on Nantucket early Thursday.
The New York area’s three major airports, among the nation’s busiest, saw more than 1,000 flights canceled.
About 1,500 people were stuck overnight at Philadelphia International Airport, where more than 400 flights were canceled.
Rain drenched Washington, the nation’s capital for most of the day and changed to sleet before it started snowing in earnest at mid-afternoon. The snow and icy roads created hazardous conditions for President Barack Obama as he returned to the White House after a post-State of the Union trip to Manitowoc, Wisconsin
Officials urged residents in Washington and Maryland to stay off the roads as snow, thunder and lightning pounded the Mid-Atlantic region. In Washington, Metro transit officials pulled buses off the roads as conditions deteriorated and heavy snow brought down many power lines, causing outages.
Since Dec. 14, snow has fallen eight times on the New York region — or an average of about once every five days. That includes the blizzard that dropped 20 inches (51 centimeters) on New York City and paralyzed travel after Christmas. When the snows arrived Wednesday, the city had already seen 36 inches (91 centimeters) of snow this season in comparison with the winter average of 21 inches (53 centimeters).
New York City declared a weather emergency for the second time since the Dec. 26 storm, which trapped hundreds of buses and ambulances and caused a political crisis for the mayor.
Through Tuesday, Boston had received 50.4 inches (128 centimeters) of snow, a nearly 270 percent increase over normal levels. The central Massachusetts city of Worcester had gotten 49.3 inches (125 centimeters)and Providence, Rhode Island had recorded 31.7 inches (81 centimeters), twice the norm for both places.
