Ken,
North-Central MD was right on the border of the monster snowfalls you talked about. Down in Glen Burnie, just south of Baltimore, there was primarily a 3 inch thick ice sheet over everything. About 20 miles up the road in Hanover, PA, they had 3 feet of snow on the ground, and in Reading, some of the larger drifts hung around until almost May. At least you could move snow with a front end loader, the stuff around me just congealed. The State and County highway departments ran out of salt, and were forced to use sand and cinders even on the Interstates. My neighbor spread hay and manure on the glacier to get traction on the ice.
I remember one day when the ground temperature was about 17 degrees, but we had about 3 inches of a mixture of freezing rain and sleet overnight, which hadn't been cleared and was congealing fast. When I turned onto my side road off MD 30 about 2 miles from my house, I already had the chains on my F-150, and blasted my way towards Boring at a forward speed of 15 to 20 MPH, but was spinning my wheels at about 35 or so under power, I dared not stop. I could smell cooked transmission fluid by the time I got home, and sure enough, I had to put a torque converter in it the following spring.
I was also nursing a torn ACL that winter, it wasn't fun.