A notable feature of the system was its array of precipitation type. While the interior sections of the Northeast received mostly snow from the system, the Mid-Atlantic received snow, sleet, freezing rain and non-freezing rain. Due to the three-dimensional nature of the atmosphere, warm air was poised to overtake the cold air closer to the ground, causing precipitation to melt, then refreeze as either sleet or freezing rain. As temperatures hovered around freezing on the southern edge of the storm track, light snow accompanied freezing rain and sleet. The freezing rain coated all surfaces with thick layers of ice, including power lines and tree limbs which break under the additional weight. Some locations in the Mid-Atlantic received several inches of sleet. Four inches (100 mm) of sleet caused travel difficulties and hampered cleanup efforts in New York City. New York City's sanitation department admitted to not plowing city streets, expecting the frozen precipitation to change from ice to rain. However, this never happened. Instead, temperatures dropped very quickly and caused the slush on sidewalks and roads to freeze into thick, rock hard sheets of ice. Streets were almost impassable during the evening rush hour resulting in complete chaos. Along coastal New England, a mix of rain, sleet, and freezing rain resulted in decreased snow amounts in coastal areas of New England.in coastal Maine, snowfall amounts were restricted to 6–12 inches, while inland sections of the state got as much as 29.8 inches of snow.