The northeastern United States has seen a winter of historical proportions as a seemingly endless stream of storms brought record setting levels of snowfall. NASA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) captured a series of these storms as they struck in February.

The amazing time lapse video released by NASA covers the period from February 1st to February 16th. During that time, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington D.C. all saw major winter snowstorms that ranked in each city’s ‘top 10’ and gave way to terms like ‘Snowmageddon’ and ‘Snowpocalypse.’

Baltimore recorded an astounding 24.8 inches from February 5th to the 6th and 19.5 inches from February 10th to the 11th. The nation’s capital received 17.8 inches of snow during the February 5th / 6th snowstorm. The City of Brotherly Love was similarly buried under 28.5 inches from February 5th to the 6th and 15.8 inches from February 10th to the 11th.

The February storms added to already hefty seasonal snowfall totals across the northeastern United States that actually got a start in December. Baltimore, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Atlantic City have all seen seasonal snowfall records.

In a statement accompanying the video which compressed 16 days into two minutes, NASA explains these “Nor’easters”. “The counter-clockwise circulation around a low pressure system on the Atlantic coast pushes moist sea air from the north-east into arctic air over the land. This windy mixture creates a very efficient snow-making machine from Boston to Washington,” the agency said.

• This story was originally published on Examiner.com. For all the latest on all types of natural disasters from snowstorms to sandstorms to earthquakes, please visit the Natural Disasters Examiner.