Blizzard ranks 4th worst in Northeast

Associated Press

HAGERSTOWN, Md.

Last weekend’s blizzard was the fourth-most-powerful snowstorm to hit the Northeast in at least 66 years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday.

The agency gave the storm a rating of 7.66 on the Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale, which ranks storms according to inches of snowfall, geographic reach and population affected. That bumps down to No. 5 the Presidents Day weekend storm of 2003, which had a score of 7.50.

The blizzard last Friday through Sunday affected 102.8 million people and covered about 434,000 square miles in 26 states.