North American blizzard of 2003

North American blizzard of 2003
Category 4 "Crippling" (RSI/NOAA: 14.67)
Plowing the streets of Washington, D.C. during the Blizzard of 2003
TypeWinter storm
FormedFebruary 14, 2003
DissipatedFebruary 22, 2003
Lowest pressure1011 mb
Tornadoes
confirmed
9
Max. rating1F1 tornado
Maximum snowfall
or ice accretion
112 cm/44 in Garrett County, Maryland
Fatalities2 fatalities direct, 25 indirect
DamageOver $14.1 million[1]
Areas affectedSouthern Rockies, Central United States, Eastern North America
1Most severe tornado damage; see Fujita scale

The Blizzard of 2003, also known as the Presidents' Day Storm II or simply PDII, was a historic and record-breaking snowstorm on the East Coast of the United States and Canada, which lasted from February 14 to February 19, 2003. It spread heavy snow across the major cities of the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states, making it the defining snowstorm of the very snowy winter of 2002–2003.

All cities from Washington, D.C. to Boston were covered in 15–30 inches (38–76 cm) of snow[2] and those cities were brought to a standstill due to problems caused by temperatures and the snow. In Baltimore and Boston, this was the biggest snowstorm on record, with 28.2 and 27.5 inches (71.6 and 69.9 cm) respectively.

  1. ^ NWS Sterling. "NWS Sterling Storm Reports, February 2003" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-02-15.
  2. ^ "Historic Blizzards | Farmers' Almanac". Archived from the original on 2012-11-10. Retrieved 2013-02-12.