AccuWeather meteorologists warned the storm was going to be one of the biggest in several years and it certainly was that and more in many places as snowfall totals in excess of 40 inches were reported in parts of New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont.

At one point, tens of millions of Americans from North Carolina to Maine were under winter storm warnings and watches as the storm gathered strength and charged northward. By mid-day on Thursday, snow was still falling across parts of New England as the storm continued its trek north and east.

Precipitation started out as snow in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., at the onset of the storm on Wednesday. Parts of the nation's capital picked up about an inch of snow prior to a switch to rain during the afternoon on Wednesday, washing away all of what had accumulated.