In late January, reminders, memories and tributes began to pop up about the ten year anniversary of New England's 2015 snow blitz. Around that same time, New England's current weather began to take on a more active look with a wave of low-impact clipper systems. By early February, a full-on parade of storms began to take shape, with hype building around a "frozen frenzy" of winter weather for the east. By February 4th, it became clear that a hyper-active weather pattern was setting up. With minds now fresh with thoughts of 2015, some couldn't help but wonder if this was the start of a new blitz.
Six large-scale, organized storm systems have been near New England over the past two weeks. It began on February 6th and culminated with a powerful storm missing New England to the south yesterday. All told, four of these storms made a direct impact on New England. Boston received 11.9 inches of snow combined in the last two weeks, a far cry from the 64.4 inches that fell in a two week period from January 27th to February 10th, 2015. The maximum snowfall in New England from each storm this year adds up to 45 inches, with the jackpot zone of each storm in a different part of the region.
This was clearly not a snow blitz, but more of a hyper-active weather pattern that sent storms through the region at a decent clip. While the pace of storms was similar to that of 2015, the overall setups were very different. In 2015, an unusually stubborn pattern was set up. This involved a massive ridge in the west creating a strong trough in the east. The pattern was highly amplified and conducive to large-scale storms developing.
Below: The general setup for most of February 2015:
Nor'easters typically reach their crescendo in February under any circumstances, but an exact circumstance like this setting up during the snowiest time of year was simply perfect for these powerful storms, and the atmosphere took full advantage, sending storm after storm. Each storm was able to intensify due to above average temperatures over the eastern Atlantic Ocean. Nor'easters feed on the temperature contrast between warm air over the ocean and cold air over land. This fact was the final piece of 2015's storm puzzle.
Fast forward back to 2025, and a much different setup emerges despite storms moving through at a similar pace. While 2015 featured a highly amplified jet stream, 2025's jet stream in February was highly zonal. Zonal flow is the opposite of an amplified ( or meridional) flow. Zonal flow occurs when the jet stream lies mostly flat over the United States without any major ridges or troughs.
Oftentimes, zonal flow can lead to quieter and low impact weather, however, a large blocking pattern near Alaska and the west coast opened up an atmospheric river for the northern west coast. With zonal flow in place, this allowed a parade of storms to march right across the country one after the other.
Below: The general flow pattern at the start of February 2025's storm parade, showing the western block opening up to zonal flow:
With that said, the lack of amplification in the jet stream allowed storms to push through the region at a quick pace, preventing long-duration storms. This lack of amplification will also hold storm strengths in check. That's the main difference between what happened in 2025 now and what happened ten years ago. We brought this fact up in a forecast post on February 7th when we specifically pointed out that this was not going to be a repeat of 2015.
The jet stream in 2015 was pushed just offshore of New England in 2015, allowing for a constant stream of cold air into New England, ensuring both direct hits from storms and all or mostly snow. In 2025, zonal flow pushed the jet stream straight through New England. This allowed for complex thermal profiles and plenty of sleet, freezing rain and rain issues to be mixed in with the snowfall. As a matter of fact, in 2015, Boston did not rise above freezing a single time from February 6th to the 20th, the exact dates of this year's storm parade.
The jet stream running straight through New England set up a baroclinic zone across the region with a sharp temperature gradient, allowing for messy storms rather than all white storms at times. The flat nature of the jet stream also allowed two of the six storms in the past two weeks to mostly miss New England with tracks well to the south; direct hits from storms were not locked in this year like they were in 2015.
Below: General setup graphic we used earlier this month:
Truth be told, the 2015 snow blitz was an epic, generational weather event is very unlikely to be repeated any time soon. Snowy and cold stretches will happen from time to time of course, but what happened in 2015 is going to be extremely difficult to duplicate, no matter how busy or similar a future weather pattern may look to it.
Looking ahead to the end of February and the start of March for New England, this two week storm train has ended. It may be unsettled at times through mid-week next week with a few quick-hitting and weak disturbances. With that said, these disturbances look far from menacing and will likely bring light rain and snow showers at times. The first extended thaw in a while will be coming, with a Pacific influence spreading mild air across the country next week.
This will be coming from zonal flow, but a more standard-looking zonal flow than the one that brought all the storms over the past couple weeks. New England's next chance at a large-scale, organized storm won't be coming until late next week, around Thursday or Friday. Usual uncertainties in track and timing exist at this point. Additional uncertainties will revolve around temperature profiles with the incoming warm-up.
Below: Current likelihood of impactful winter weather next Thursday:
