page_title: January 2015 North American blizzard
section_title: Meteorological history
hierarchical_section_title: January 2015 North American blizzard / Meteorological history
caption_attribution_description: English: Track map of January 2015 Nor'easter of the 2014–15 North American winter. The points show the location of the storm at 6-hour intervals. The colour represents the storm's maximum sustained wind speeds as classified in the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale (see below), and the shape of the data points represent the nature of the storm, according to the legend below. Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale Tropical depression≤38 mph≤62 km/h Category 3111–129 mph178–208 km/h Tropical storm39–73 mph63–118 km/h Category 4130–156 mph209–251 km/h Category 174–95 mph119–153 km/h Category 5≥157 mph≥252 km/h Category 296–110 mph154–177 km/h Unknown Storm typeTropical cycloneSubtropical cycloneExtratropical cyclone / Remnant low / Tropical disturbance
context_page_description: The January 2015 North American blizzard was a powerful and severe blizzard that dumped up to 3 feet of snowfall in parts of New England. Originating from a disturbance just off the coast of the Northwestern United States on January 23, it initially produced a light swath of snow as it traveled southeastwards into the Midwest as an Alberta clipper on January 24–25. It gradually weakened as it moved eastwards towards the Atlantic Ocean, however, a new dominant low formed off the East Coast of the United States late on January 26, and rapidly deepened as it moved northeastwards towards southeastern New England, producing pronounced blizzard conditions. The nor’easter then gradually weakened as it moved away into Canada. The storm was also given unofficial names, such as Blizzard of 2015, and Winter Storm Juno.
  The nor'easter disrupted transportation, with snow emergencies declared in six states and travel bans enacted in four of these states – Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island – as well as in New York City. Most passenger rail service was suspended, and thousands of flights were cancelled.
context_section_description: On January 23, a low-pressure area developed off the Pacific Northwest, before moving over the Canadian Prairies by January 24. The storm system quickly moved southeastward into the Upper Midwest during the evening of January 24, taking a path typical of an Alberta clipper. As it progressed southward, the storm intensified, with frontogenesis occurring the next day. By noon on January 25, the upper-level low was centered near the border between Iowa and Missouri in correlation with a weak shortwave trough. Moisture from the Gulf of Mexico wrapped around the system from the south, resulting in widespread rainfall and snow over the Midwest. Throughout the day, the system traversed eastward along the Kentucky-Tennessee border. Snowfall remained concentrated along a cold front north of the Ohio River.
  At 09:00 UTC on January 26, the Weather Prediction Center began issuing storm summaries on the developing disturbance while the low-pressure system was centered near Bluefield, West Virginia. At the time, mixed precipitation was occurring over northern Appalachia. As this system tracked eastward, it gradually weakened; however, at the same time, a new low-pressure system formed off the coast of North Carolina and began to track north-northeastward, eventually becoming the dominant low of the storm. Early on January 30, the nor'easter left the East Coast, even as another winter storm began to impact the region. During the next day, the former nor'easter continued to accelerate eastward across the North Atlantic, even as it rapidly weakened. On January 31, the winter storm was absorbed by a much more powerful extratropical cyclone developing over Western Europe.
caption: Map plotting the track and the intensity of the storm, according to the Saffir–Simpson scale
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