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Back-to-back storms that brought misery to millions in the Northeast over the past 10 days will finally relent and give way this weekend to clear skies and 70-degree temperatures 鈥� likely to lift spirits and boost morale for what promises to be a lengthy cleanup and recovery.

A week after superstorm Sandy barreled up the East Coast, a powerful nor鈥檈aster on Wednesday dumped up to a foot of snow on interior parts of New England and battered storm-wrecked coastal communities with up to 60 mile-an-hour gusts. By Thursday, it began to recede out into the Atlantic. On its coattails are riding high clear skies and warm temperatures for most of the region.

鈥淭hings are pretty much winding down,鈥� says Charlie Foley, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Taunton, Mass. 鈥淭he storm itself is offshore heading for Nova Scotia, so its impact on us will be minimal 鈥� just some lingering rain showers and wind advisories until about 3 p.m. [Thursday] afternoon. But all in all, it鈥檚 pretty much history.鈥�

Hastily reinforced dunes along the New York and New Jersey coast helped curtail any further flooding in the region from the nor鈥檈aster, and overall damage from the second storm was minimal, authorities say. But for many of those who lost power and even homes in superstorm Sandy, the cold, wind-driven rain and snow was another blow.

"Kind of laughing about it at this point," Long Island resident Danny Arnedos told NBC News. "To go from a hurricane to a nor'easter and driving in the snow in 10 days is pretty unbelievable."

Officials like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) called the nor鈥檈aster a sucker punch after Sandy killed at least 110 people and caused tens of billions of dollars in flood and wind damage last week, leaving millions of people without power in near-freezing temperatures. Many Sandy victims who had huddled under blankets for days before having their power restored this week saw lights fail again on Thursday. In New Jersey, some 40,000 customers who had just had power restored lost it as the nor鈥檈aster thundered against a weakened power grid and fragile coastal defenses.

All in all, the nor鈥檈aster caused about 100,000 new power outages, leaving about 700,000 homes still without power in the region.

Before steering off the coast on Thursday, the nor鈥檈aster also dropped record snows for this time of year in Central Park in New York; Newark, N.J.; and Bridgeport, Conn. The wet snow won鈥檛 linger, however.

鈥淚nto early next week, we鈥檙e going to be on the return side of the high-pressure system that鈥檚 moving over, which means we鈥檒l be importing some milder temperatures鈥� from the southern United States, Mr. Foley says. 鈥淭hat means the snow will be gone.鈥�