The weather was unseasonably mild just before the blizzard, with heavy rains that turned to snow as temperatures dropped rapidly.[3] On March 12, New York City dropped from 33 °F (1 °C) to 8 °F (−13 °C), and rain changed to snow at 1am.[5] The storm began in earnest shortly after midnight on March 12 and continued unabated for a full day and a half. In a 2007 article, the National Weather Service estimated that this nor'easter dumped as much as 50 inches (130 cm) of snow in parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts, while parts of New Jersey and New York had up to 40 inches (100 cm).[2] Most of northern Vermont received from 20 inches (51 cm) to 30 inches (76 cm).[