The February 12–14, 2017 North American blizzard was a strong and historic

nor'easter A nor'easter (also northeaster; see below) is a large-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast. Typically, such storms originate as a low ...

that affected the

Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States (also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. Located on the East Coast of the United States, ...

and

Eastern Canada Eastern Canada (, also the Eastern provinces, Canadian East or the East) is generally considered to be the region of Canada south of Hudson Bay/ Hudson Strait and east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces (from east to west): Newf ...

from February 12–14. It impacted the

less than a week after the February 9–11, 2017 North American blizzard. This blizzard was more localized and less widespread than the previous storm, but snow totals were higher in some areas, including portions of

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

and

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

. The system caused 2 fatalities and is estimated to have caused over $3.9 million (2017 USD) in damages. It was unofficially named ''Winter Storm Orson'' by

The Weather Channel The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel ...

Meteorological history

The system originated as a weak

low-pressure system In meteorology, a low-pressure area (LPA), low area or low is a region where the atmospheric pressure is lower than that of surrounding locations. It is the opposite of a high-pressure area. Low-pressure areas are commonly associated with inclem ...

over the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes spanning the Canada–United States border. The five lakes are Lake Superior, Superior, Lake Michigan, Michigan, Lake Huron, H ...

region early on February 12, which quickly began to strengthen due to abundant moisture. It quickly moved eastwards into the

Mid-Atlantic states The Mid-Atlantic is a region of the United States located in the overlap between the nation's Northeastern and Southeastern states. Traditional definitions include seven U.S. states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virg ...

by 18:00

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

, with precipitation bands developing by that time. The system then underwent bombogenesis off the Mid-Atlantic coast on February 13, deepening to a peak intensity of at 18:00 UTC on February 13. The system then slowed its movement down, stalling out in the

Gulf of Maine The Gulf of Maine is a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of North America. It is bounded by Cape Cod at the eastern tip of Massachusetts in the southwest and by Cape Sable Island at the southern tip of Nova Scotia in the northea ...

and resulting in prolonged periods of heavy snow. It began moving again on February 14, moving into Canada and beginning to weaken. The low-pressure continued slowly weakening before dissipating early on February 15.

Preparations and impact

Northeastern United States

There were heavy snowfall amounts across

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

with a large swath of from

Upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region of New York (state), New York that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area of downstate New York. Upstate includes the middle and upper Hudson Valley, ...

to Eastern

. The snow caused widespread travel problems, such as numerous automobile accidents, and other hardships such as a collapsed roof in

Millinocket, Maine Millinocket is a town in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The population was 4,114 at the 2020 census. Millinocket's economy has historically been centered on forest products and recreation, but the paper company closed in 2008. Histor ...

. The strong wind gusts downed trees and power lines with some trees crushing houses. Schools, businesses, medical offices, public transportation and government offices were shut down in a large part of the Northeast while flights and events were cancelled, such as courses at the

University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...

and the

University of Southern Maine The University of Southern Maine (USM) is a public university with campuses in Gorham and Portland, Maine, United States. It is the southernmost university in the University of Maine System. It was founded as two separate state universities, Go ...

. One man was killed in by a falling large tree branch through the windshield of his vehicle in

Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania Mechanicsburg is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. The borough is west of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. It is part of the Harrisburg–Carlisle metropolitan statistical area. As of the ...

, and a 60-year-old died in an accident with a

snowplow A snowplow (also snow plow, snowplough or snow plough) is a device intended for mounting on a vehicle, used for removing snow and ice from outdoor surfaces, typically those serving transportation purposes. Although this term is often used to ref ...

in Massachusetts. Winds resulted in a tree falling down on the

Metro-North Railroad The Metro-North Commuter Railroad Company , also branded as MTA Metro-North Railroad and commonly called simply Metro-North, is a suburban commuter rail service operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), a New York State publ ...

in Westchester, causing major delays. Property damages was estimated at $3.9 million, mainly due to winds.

was among the hardest states hit from this storm, the highest snowfall total of was recorded near Jonesboro. In Bangor, a 24-hour snowfall record was broken, with 21.5 in (54.6 cm) falling in one day. The storm was also Bangor's fourth largest snow event on record, and many other locations including Waterville and Lewiston received over 18 inches of snow.

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

was also one of the hardest hit states from the storm, where many locations received over 2 feet of snow. The snow highest total in New Hampshire was in Jefferson, which received . Wind gusts of were recorded from

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

to Maine with a peak gust of at

Westchester County Airport Westchester County Airport is a county-owned airport in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States, northeast of downtown White Plains, New York, White Plains, with territory in the Town (New Y ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

. In Washington, D.C., parts of a three-story apartment building's roof was blown off by the gusts in the area. A fallen tree on the tracks just north of New York City, was struck by a commuter train with around 100 passengers on board, stopping service for hours.

Eastern Canada

In Southern

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

and

Eastern Ontario Eastern Ontario (census population 1,892,332 in 2021) () is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies a wedge-shaped area bounded by the Ottawa River and Quebec to the northeast and east, the St. Lawr ...

, most observed snowfall totals were with the highest totals in the

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

–

Eastern Townships The Eastern Townships (, ) is a historical administrative region in southeastern Quebec, Canada. It lies between the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Lowlands, St. Lawrence Lowlands and the American border, and extends from Granby, Quebec, Granby in ...

corridor. The

Meteorological Service of Canada The Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC; ) is a branch of Environment and Climate Change Canada, which primarily provides public meteorological information and weather forecasts and warnings of severe weather and other environmental hazards. ...

issued winter weather warnings for northern

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

, the east and south coasts of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region of Labrador, having a total size of . As of 2025 the population ...

, and all of

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island is an island Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. While it is the smallest province by land area and population, it is the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

. School districts in most of these areas closed schools. Vast areas of the

Maritimes The Maritimes, also called the Maritime provinces, is a region of Eastern Canada consisting of three provinces: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island. The Maritimes had a population of 1,899,324 in 2021, which makes up 5.1% of ...

received high snowfall totals with over in

Fredericton Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River (Bay of Fundy), Saint John River, ...

and in

St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. The city spans and is the easternmost city in North Ame ...

. Wind gusts reaching were recorded along the coast near Halifax. All public transit in the area was cancelled.

Nova Scotia Power Nova Scotia Power Inc. is a vertical integration, vertically integrated electric utility in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is privately owned by Emera and regulated by the provincial government via the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board (NSUARB). Nov ...

and

NB Power New Brunswick Power Corporation (), operating as NB Power (), is the primary electric utility in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. NB Power is a Vertical integration, vertically-integrated Crown corpor ...

reported over 6,000 customers without electricity after the storm.

References

External links

Archive of Storm Summaries
from the

Weather Prediction Center The Weather Prediction Center (WPC), located in College Park, Maryland, is one of nine service centers under the umbrella of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), a part of the National Weather Service (NWS), which in turn is ...