A powerful March winter dropped as much as two feet of snow across parts of eastern and central Massachusetts.
The strong ocean storm brought intense, heavy snow, significant coastal flooding and strong winds overnight Thursday into the day Friday.
The strongest punch from the storm hit during the heart of the morning commute, causing a mess for commuters and a nightmare for highway crews.
Some school districts, including Boston, were criticized for holding classes despite icy sidewalks and poorly plowed roads.
Boston public schools spokesman Lee McGuire said schools were kept open because the weather forecast was so fluid. The district said students whose parents kept them home Friday would be considered "constructively present" and their absences would be excused.
The coastline was battered by three high tides during the duration of the storm, the worst Friday morning, when some roads in coastal towns were flooded with up to 3 feet of water.
A vacant house on Plum Island, off the northeast coast of Massachusetts, was ripped from its foundation and collapsed into the sea. Other homes there were badly damaged.
The highest snow amounts were reported in interior Southeast Massachusetts and across Worcester County, where between 18 and 24 inches of snow fell.
Charley Foley, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Taunton, said the higher snowfalls were caused by winds swirling around the storm that subtly changed course from the northeast to a more northerly direction. That allowed the storm to tap colder air from Canada, pick up moisture from the warmer ocean and dump snow on New England.