Hercules Satellite Image

This image taken on January 3, 2014 by the Suomi NPP satellite shows the blanket of snow that stretches from the Midwest across to New England after a massive winter storm moved over the region on January 1-3, 2014. (Source: NASA/NOAA)

Homeowners and motorists dug out across the white-blanketed Northeast on Friday as extreme cold ushered in by Winter Storm Hercules threatened fingers and toes but kept the snow powdery and mercifully easy to shovel. At least 16 deaths were linked to the storm as it swept across the nation's eastern half.

The heaviest snow fell north of Boston in Boxford, which received nearly 2 feet. Nearly 18 inches fell in Boston and in western New York near Rochester. Lakewood, N.J., got 10 inches, and New York's Central Park 6. Philadelphia got more than 6 inches.

(MORE: State-by-State Impacts)

"The snow is easy to move because the air was so cold when it snowed that it's sort of light and fluffy stuff — but, uh, it's cold," Avalon "Nick" Minton said as he cleared the entrance to his garage and sidewalk in Arlington, Mass. "That's the main part. It's cold."

Officials from the Midwest to New England are preparing for another arctic blast in the next few days that could be even worse.

For more information on Hercules continue to follow weather.com.

(MORE: Coldest Arctic Outbreak in Midwest Since the 1990s)