March 2017 North American blizzard

From March 13–15, 2017, a major late-season blizzard, unofficially referred to as Winter Storm Stella by The Weather Channel and other media, or more commonly referred to as the Blizzard of 2017 or Blizzard Eugene, affected the Northeastern United States, New England and Canada, dumping up to 3 feet (36 in; 91 cm) of snow in the hardest hit areas, mainly New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and southern Quebec. Forming out of an extratropical cyclone near the Northwest, the storm system dived into the northern portions of the United States, dropping light to moderate snow across the Great Lakes, Upper Midwest on March 11–12 before reaching the Ohio Valley the next day. It later coalesced into a powerful nor'easter off the East Coast, producing a swath of heavy snowfall across a large portion of the Northeast. However, it tracked closer to the coast then expected, cutting down on snow totals in some of the big cities such as New York City, which was originally expected to receive up to 12–18 inches (30–46 cm) of snow but affected more inland ones like Montreal and Sherbrooke (Canada). The nor'easter continued its way further into New England and the Maritimes throughout the day of March 15, before subsiding the next day as it moved away onto Newfoundland.

Ahead of the storm, residents prepared in advance for the major nor'easter, with blizzard warnings issued for several states, including New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. Several officials had crews with salt trucks ready to deploy to clear roads. The system also disrupted travel across the country, with numerous flight cancellations at most of the major airports in the Northeast. It dropped a swath of moderate snow accumulation as it moved across the northern tier of the country, with as much as 13 inches (33 cm) reported. The storm was also responsible for ending a record streak without snowfall in Chicago, Illinois, where no snow had occurred since December 25, 2016.