There's a lot of it around

WASHINGTON - Massive snowfalls and blinding winds blasted Washington and much of America's East Coast yesterday as the United States capital struggled with the latest storm in its most difficult winter in memory.

The Washington area has been virtually paralysed since a storm at the weekend dumped nearly a metre of snow, shutting down the federal Government, making travel perilous and leaving residents scrambling to stock up on groceries.

Yesterday's blizzard compounded the problems for Washington and brought new ones to New York and other northeastern cities.

In Pennsylvania, the governor closed large stretches of major highways because the second major storm in less than a week was making travel too risky.

"The snow has just been relentless," said Washington fire chief Dennis Rubin. "It doesn't seem like we're getting much of a break."

Washington broke a centuries-old record for snowfall, with 139cm collected, more than 1cm above the previous record from the 1898-1899 season.

Nearby Baltimore also set a new record, and meteorologists warned the severe weather might not be the last for the year. A snow record also was set in Philadelphia to the north.

"The winter, of course, is not even close to being over yet," said Eric Wilhelm, a meteorologist with AccuWeather who predicted the winter of 2009-10 will almost certainly set a record for snow along the East Coast.

Just south of the capital in Arlington, Virginia, streets that had been packed with people playing in the snow over the weekend were empty.

"I've seen enough," said Bill Daly, 57, as gusts of wind and snow lashed his face.

"It's scary and beautiful at the same time. I wanted to shovel but thought if I had a heart attack it could be a while before anybody found me in this kind of weather."

New York, which managed to avoid last week's snowstorm, was not so lucky yesterday.

The city was blanketed by the winter storm, which forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights and caused the United Nations to order its workers to stay home, along with the city's 1.1 million schoolchildren.

- AP