Storm blankets US north-east in snow as millions face ?disruptive? winter weather

US winter weather is wreaking havoc coast to coast, with more than 90 million people affected by potentially hazardous weather from Thursday and into Friday.

More than 2,300 flights were canceled in the US on Friday morning. Schools and offices in the north-east were shuttered, by a fierce overnight snowstorm, if not only by the Omicron coronavirus surge, and parts of the north-west were under an avalanche warning.

No sooner had gigantic delays on the east coast I-95 road artery in Virginia been cleared earlier this week caused by weather and crashes, a more than 20-car pile-up in more stormy weather stranded drivers for hours in Kentucky.

Tens of millions nationwide were hit by hazardous weather in the past 24 hours, ABC News reported, while a whopping 37 states faced winter weather alerts by Thursday evening.

In New England and the larger north-east region, the National Weather Service (NWS) forecasted a "quick hitting nor'easter" storm would cause "disruptive snowfall" for the end of the week, with 4-8in falling in parts of Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Maine.

New York City received a quick dump of snow overnight, with New Yorkers waking up early Friday to the sound of snow plows for the first time this winter, followed by bluebird skies and sunshine on the freshly-dusted landscape.

Public schools in Boston and Washington DC declared snow days Friday, while federal offices in the DC area closed amid the winter weather. In Connecticut, Governor Ned Lamont shuttered executive branch state offices to the public, and residents were advised to stay home.