Winter Storm

Winter Storm Niko Hammers Northeast With Blizzard Conditions, Over a Foot of Snow in Six States (RECAP)

At a Glance

Winter Storm Niko was a one-day wonder in the Northeast in early February 2017.
Blizzard conditions were reported in New England.
Thundersnow was observed in many locations from Pennsylvania to Maine.
This was the first significant snow for the I-95 corridor since early-mid January.

Winter Storm Niko brought heavy snow, blizzard conditions and high winds to a swath of the Northeast during a brief, one-day siege on February 9, 2017.

(INTERACTIVE: Winter Storm Niko Snowfall Tracker | Winter Storm Central)

Niko's intense snowfall, following record highs the previous day, prompted thousands of flights cancellations and numerous schools closed from parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York into New England.

(NEWS: Recap of Niko Impacts)

After being classified as a named winter storm on Feb. 7, a stripe of snow blanketed parts of the central Plains and Ohio Valley, with generally light to moderate snow.

(MORE: The Science Behind Naming Winter Storms)

Around 2 inches of snow had fallen in Omaha, Nebraska, and in parts of the Des Moines, Iowa, metro area during the morning of Feb. 8. A stripe of northern Nebraska picked up heavier snow, led by 10 inches of snow in Ainsworth.

Wednesday afternoon, 2.1 inches of snow was measured at Indianapolis International Airport. By that evening, Dayton, Ohio, had picked up 1 inch of snow.

February 9th - Northeast

Niko quickly moved into the Northeast by early on Thursday, Feb. 9. Its rapidly-intensifying low pressure system raced from the Delmarva peninsula northeastinto the Atlantic, well off the coast of Long Island and Cape Cod, but close enough to spread blizzard conditions inland.

Niko underwent "bombogenesis", which is defined as a drop in central pressure of the surface low of at least 24 millibars in 24 hours or less, off the Eastern Seaboard when it's pressure dropped 29 millibars in 24 hours. Pressure fell from 1002 millibars (mb) to 973 mb from 7pm Feb. 8 to 7pm Feb. 9.

(MORE: Niko, a Weather 'Bomb'?)

Snowfall rates were extreme at times, ranging from 1 to 4 inches per hour.

New York City's La Guardia Airport saw three inches of snow per hour for two straight hours 8-10 a.m. EST. Islip, New York, saw two- to three-inch per hour snowfall rates from 9 a.m. to noon EST.

Albany, New York, picked up 4 inches of snow in one hour early Thursday.

As Niko cranked up off the coast of the Mid-Atlantic, numerous reports of thundersnow were recieved from at least four states, including around Hartford, Connecticut, on New York's Long Island, in Rhode Island and in Massachusetts, including at the National Weather Service office in Boston.

(MORE: Lightning Obliterates Tree, Damages Home in Rhode Island during Thundersnow)

At least 19 locations in southern New England recorded blizzard conditions.

Boston recorded blizzard conditions for more than four and a half hours. At one time, visbility at Logan Airport dropped to a mere 1/16 of a mile, a rarity in a winter storm.

This was the first blizzard in Boston since Jan. 27, 2015 (Winter Storm Jonas), which lasted 9 hours. In Providence, blizzard conditions were recorded for more than five hours.

Here is a sampling of the top and notable snow reports by state in the Northeast:

Connecticut: 19.0 inches in East Hartford; 15.5 inches in Windsor Locks (Bradley Field); 10.3 inches in Bridgeport
Delaware: 1.1 inches in Wilmington
Maine: 24 inches near Cooper; 22 inches in Gouldsboro; 7.5 inches at the Portland Jetport
Maryland: 12.3 inches in Redhouse; 9 inches in Oakland
Massachusetts: 19.0 inches in East Longmeadow; 16.0 inches in Springfield; 12.9 inches in Worcester; 10.7 inches at Boston-Logan Airport
New Hampshire: 17.0 inches in Nottingham; 16.5 inches in Merrimack; 15.0 inches in Litchfield; 8.0 inches in Concord
New Jersey: 12.5 inches near Denville Township; 7.8 inches in Newark; 0.3 inch in Atlantic City
New York: 18 inches in Feura Bush and Voorheesville; 14.3 inches in Islip; 11.2 inches at Albany Int'l Airport; 10 inches at La Guardia Airport; 9.4 inches in Central Park; 8.3 inches at JFK Airport
Pennsylvania: 13 inches near Bear Creek; 9 inches in Mt. Pocono; 7.5 inches in Scranton-Wilkes-Barre; 7.1 inches in Allentown; 3.6 inches in Harrisburg; 2 inches in Philadelphia
Rhode Island: 14.5 inches in North Foster; 11.9 inches at T.F. Green Airport near Providence
Vermont: 12 inches in Wilmington; 1.6 inches in Burlington