Major Winter Storm in North Eastern USA Thursday Jan 02,2014

The north-eastern US has been hit by a major winter storm, with 53cm (21 inches) of snowfall recorded in one town in Massachusetts.

The National Waeather Services said unofficial observations had recorded 53cm of snow in Boxford, north of Boston. Other areas of Massachusetts as well as New York experienced similar falls.

Similar accumulations were also expected in parts of the states of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, where many residents were recently without electricity because of an ice storm

The first major winter storm of 2014 brought bone-chilling temperatures and high winds from the lower Mississippi Valley to the Atlantic coast, with parts of New England, including Boston

Thousands of flights have been cancelled as heavy snowfall moved eastward from the Midwestern states
The powerful storm forced cancellation of nearly 2,500 U.S. flights with another 7,000 delayed. Chicago's O'Hare International and Newark's Liberty International Airport were hit the worst

The New York and New Jersey governors have declared a state of emergency, urging people to stay indoors.

Many schools and businesses have closed amid warnings the storm will worsen overnight and into Friday morning Jan 03,2014

Forecast snowfall varied widely, with Washington expected to see under an inch (2cm), Philadelphia and New York 4 to 8 inches (10-20 cm), Hartford 6 to 10 inches (15-25 cm) and Boston 8 to 14 inches (20-36 cm).

Cars covered with snow at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport

The State of Michigan saw upto 25cm(10 inches)of snowfall 

People have been enjoying the snow in New York

Snow falls on Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York

 Walkers brave the cold and snow in Buffalo, N.Y, Thursday

Subzero temperatures settle across U.S.

Several Midwestern states were walloped by up to a foot of new snow on Sunday. Five to 9 inches had fallen in the Chicago area by Sunday afternoon, while the St. Louis area had about a foot of snow and northern Indiana had at least 8 inches. Central Illinois was bracing for 8 to 10 inches, and southern Michigan could see up to 15 inches.

Snow-covered roads and high winds created treacherous driving Sunday Jan 05,2014 from the Dakotas to Michigan and Missouri as residents braced for the next round of bad weather: dangerously cold temperatures that could break records across much of the nation.

About 1,200 flights had been cancelled Sunday at O'Hare and Midway international airports in Chicago, aviation officials said, and there also were cancellations at Logan International Airport in Boston and Tennessee's Memphis and Nashville international airports

The National Weather Service said the snowfall at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport totaled more than 11 inches as of 6 p.m. Sunday — the most since the Feb. 2, 2011, storm that shut down the city's famed Lake Shore Drive

Temperatures were being suppressed by a "polar vortex," a counterclockwise-rotating pool of cold, dense air that will affect more than half of the continental U.S. throughout Sunday and into Monday and Tuesday, with wind chill warnings stretching from Montana to Alabama.

The forecast is extreme: 25 below zero in Fargo, N.D., minus 31 in International Falls, Minn., and 15 below in Indianapolis and Chicago. Wind chills - what it feels like outside when high winds are factored into the temperature - could drop into the negative 50s and 60s. Northeastern Montana was warned Sunday of wind chills up to 59 below zero.

For the first time in 20 years, all Minnesota schools will close on Monday Jan 06,2014.Several cities and districts in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Iowa, among others, also called off classes