It spread heavy snow across the major cities of the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states, making it the defining snowstorm of the very snowy winter of 2002–2003.

This secondary system fed off the moisture of the Atlantic Ocean and enhanced precipitation totals from North Carolina to Massachusetts.

It brought heavy rain, ice and severe weather to some areas of the South, including the nation's first tornado of the year.

Southern Iowa and eastern Illinois also got significant snow, with 11 inches (28 cm) in Des Moines.

Heavy snow was continuously reported, falling at rates of up to 4 inches (10 cm) per hour.

The blizzard left the East Coast of the United States on February 19 and moved out into the North Atlantic Ocean.

All in all, it was the most significant and powerful storm to affect the major cities of the Northeast since the Blizzard of 1996.

Reporting on the devastation the following day, The Baltimore Sun said, "...hours after the collapse, columns of mangled steel stuck out from the roundhouse ... Locomotives and passenger cars in the museum's collection, some dating from the 1830s, could be seen covered with snow and debris".

This confusion in communications resulted in the towns with the highest amounts of snow receiving delayed assistance in the cleanup while the major roadways into and out of the city were cleared.

Most Washington, D.C. area television stations had wall-to-wall coverage from Saturday morning through Monday evening, only stopping briefly overnight.

The extended closure of school districts due to this storm exacerbated the task of scheduling make-up days for the affected students, as most of these districts had already used all of their previously allocated days on storms earlier in the winter.

It also freed counties from spending restrictions and allowed routes to be closed to non-emergency vehicles.

In the southeastern part of the state, area malls closed early on the 16th and churches cancelled services.

Businesses, universities and government offices started to reopen on Tuesday the 18th, but most schools remained closed.

The worst accident of the storm occurred early on the 16th as six vehicles collided near Academy Road on Interstate 95.

In Chester County, a major accident during the early afternoon of the 16th closed the eastbound lanes of the Pennsylvania Turnpike between Morgantown and Downingtown for three hours.

The eastbound lanes of the Pennsylvania Turnpike near the Philadelphia Interchange were shut down during the afternoon of the 16th because of a multi-vehicle accident that set a couple of them ablaze.

The blizzard was part of a winter remarkable for its snowstorms in the affected states, where total snowfall for the season ranked in the top ten and even higher in some areas.

In sections of the coastal northeast, 75 inches of total snowfall occurred that year.

[citation needed] This storm was part of the same system that caused that year's Daytona 500 to be rain-shortened.