The January 31 – February 2, 2015 North American blizzard was a major winter storm that plowed through the majority of the United States, dumping as much as of new snowfall across a path from Iowa to New England, as well as blizzard conditions in early February 2015. It came less than a week after another crippling blizzard which impacted the Northeast with 2–3 feet of snow. It was the first of many intense winter storms to occur in the nation during the month of February, partly in due to an ongoing cold wave that was beginning to take shape shortly after the storm subsided. Ahead of the storm, residents mainly in the Midwest prepared for potential whiteout or even blizzard conditions. The storm dropped as much as in the city of Chicago, Illinois, making it their fifth heaviest snowstorm on record. Up to 15 people were killed by the blizzard, and it knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of people. Meteorological history On January 30, an upper-level low moved ashore into California. Pumping some moisture from the Pacific Ocean, it began to produce snow in the high mountainous terrains of New Mexico and Arizona. It began to dive southwards into Mexico late on January 31, and at the same time, a trough dived southwards into the United States. A surface area of low pressure developed as a result of this along an arctic front that was moving through the High Plains. Early on February 1, the winter storm began to move eastwards on a near 1,900-mile long path. Snowfall bands began to set up with rates of up to per hour and strong winds, leading to blizzard conditions. The cities around the Chicago and Detroit areas were among the locations that got slammed the hardest by the blizzard. As the blizzard continued to move eastwards, winds continued to increase which resulted in higher snow drifts in some locations. The Northeast was its next target. Late on February 1, snow began to spread into parts of New York City and parts of New England. The snow continued to gradually move eastwards until it had reached the southwestern parts of New England overnight. By now the area of low pressure had reached central Pennsylvania, with its warm front passing through New York City. Because of this, snowfall totals had a sharp cutoff of about . Instead, NYC picked up about