Winter Storm Spotlight: President's Day 2003 Historic Snowstorm

Our Historic Snowstorm Archive has been completely overhauled and updated to include new snowfall maps for CT, Southern New England and the Tri-State Area as well as a full radar and surface map loop for every event! We've also added several new storms to the growing list. To highlight our new page we will be doing a "Winter Storm Spotlight" that will feature an overview and lookback at some of our regions most notable blizzards and record breaking winter weather.

One of the most recent additions to our Historic Storms page is the President's Day 2003 snowstorm. This storm is also referred to as "President's Day 2" or "PD2." Over twenty-two years ago a massive storm formed over the Southeastern US, tapping into moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. The storm moved slowly northeast slamming into a massive dome of deep high pressure during a period from February 15th to the 18th.

Initially, this storm was going to mainly affect the Mid-Atlantic states and spare most of the Northeast with only perhaps some light snow along the coast. As we drew closer, weather models began to bump the system farther and farther north until most of Southern New England and the Tri-State area was under the gun for a major snowstorm. Snow began during the day on the 16th over PA and NJ and slowly spread northeast. By nightfall, heavy snow enveloped most of southern New York and New England. Heavy snow continued all day on the 17th until the storm exited the region early on the overnight hours of the 18th.

On Tuesday, February 18th, the damage was done and D.C. to Boston was left under a very large swath of 15-30" of snowfall. This storm is in the top ten for many big cities and it's Boston's number one snowstorm of all time. Connecticut is included in that swath of heavy snow and much of the state saw 12-24".

This was a very unique storm in many ways. One thing that was notable was the very large area of heavy snowfall. Usually with common nor'easters there is a more narrow swath of big snows, with a lot of "have's" and "have not's." Another unique aspect of this system was the relatively weak area of low pressure that only deepened to over 1000mb. Classic nor'easters usually get down to 980mb or even much lower. This weak low pressure didn't allow for strong winds well inland and blizzard conditions that we typically see. There was, however, some gusty winds over 40mph right along coastal areas thanks to a strong pressure gradient.

If you're interested in viewing the CT and the Tri-State Area snowfall maps check out our page for this event. We'll be doing another spotlight in the next two weeks.

Historic Storm Archive - All major storms over 12" + radar 1888-present

Winter Storm Archive - All snowstorms + radar regardless of size by season (in progress)

CT Snowfall Maps Archive - Snowfall maps for every event for CT 1999-present

Seasonal Snowfall Archive - Snowfall by season for CT/S. New England/Northeast

Winter 2024-2025 - All Snowfall maps and total season snowfall for winter 24-25