HAGERSTOWN, Md. — Last weekend’s blizzard is officially the fourth most powerful snowstorm to hit the Northeast in more than 60 years.
That’s according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which announced the storm’s ranking on the Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale. The scale calculates inches of snowfall, geographic reach and population affected to see how each snowstorm measures up.
NOAA spokeswoman Maureen O’Leary says this storm affected 102.8 million people and covered about 434,000 square miles in 26 states.
National Weather Service meteorologist Paul Kocin says almost 24 million people saw more than 20 inches of snow as flakes fell from Louisiana to Maine.
Top honors still go to the so-called Storm of the Century in 1993. That storm dropped more than 30 inches in places from Mississippi to Maine.
