Sandy was able to produce such a snowstorm was due to a blast of arctic air – associated with the polar vortex – that had plunged into the Northeast, which led to Sandy actually maintaining its intensity while subsequently deepening before landfall. About a week later, the same areas affected by Sandy were impacted by an early season nor'easter, further hindering recovery efforts in those areas. Early November nor'easter Less than a week after Hurricane Sandy impacted the Northeastern United States, the same areas affected by the cyclone experienced an early season snowstorm on November 7–8. Development began when an area of low pressure formed in the Central United States on November 5. Moving eastward, the disturbance moved off the coast late on November 6, and began to take a more northernly track, slowly strengthening as it did so. Early on November 7, rainbands began affecting the New York metropolitan area, however, due to the cold air that was in place over Canada near the U.S–Canada border, snow began to break out on the storm's western side, directly over the state of New Jersey. Snowfall rates approached in some areas. Coastal flooding was also a threat, in nearly the same areas that were devastated by coastal flooding from Sandy. It finally moved away from the coast on November 8, leaving more damage in its wake and snowfall totals peaking at around . Mid-December blizzard Around the beginning of winter, a potent blizzard moved across the Upper Midwest into the Ohio Valley, dumping as much as . On December 17, an upper-level shortwave and associated trough made landfall along the coast of the Pacific Northwest. The system initially moved towards the southeast, strengthening over the Rocky Mountains. This led to the development and formation of a surface low over eastern Colorado early on December 19. The low began to curve towards the northeast, and its barometric pressure began to deepen. The low attained its lowest pressure at 1800 UTC on December 20 over northern Illinois. However, the system became occluded, and as such moved quickly to the northeast, where it weakened and subsequently dissipated over southern Ontario late on December 21. Another low pressure area formed in the vicinity of the previous low over the East Coast of the United States, which quickly moved north across the coast, bringing heavy snowfalls to the region. The low later exited the continental United