US: The biggest snowstorm on record for early December buried New York, Boston and other eastern seaboard cities in the United States under one-to-two feet of snow and threw road and air traffic into chaos.
The marathon snowstorm began on Friday morning and by Saturday had developed into a full-scale blizzard, with temperatures well below freezing and winds howling at up to 50 miles an hour.
The snow gave New York a Christmas card feel, with skaters whirling round the Rockefeller Center ice rink in driving snow, the traditional Christmas tree weighed down with real rather than artificial white stuff, and the overcoats and fur hats of shoppers glistening with tiny flakes.
For travellers the snow brought only misery, however. As it spread northwards hundreds of flights were cancelled at La Guardia, JFK and Newark, and Boston's Logan airport shut down completely on Saturday evening.
Aer Lingus says it hopes to operate a full trans-Atlantic service today, after two flights were cancelled yesterday. Flight EI 133 from Dublin and Shannon to Boston was cancelled, which meant the return flight, EI 132, also had to be cancelled.
A spokeswoman for the airline said most of the passengers who were booked on the outbound flight were re-accommodated on services to New York.
Arrangements were also being made to find alternative services for the passengers whose flight from Boston was cancelled.
With two weeks still to go before the official start of winter, snowfall records were broken all across the north east. New York's Central Park got 13 inches, the Bronx recorded 16 inches and city suburbs up to two feet. Long Island was engulfed by 19 inches of snow while some areas around Boston were reporting 24 inches.
The storm was a classic northeaster, caused by low pressure moving up from the south along the Atlantic seaboard, drawing huge amounts of moisture from the Atlantic and sucking in cold air from the north.
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino declared a snow emergency and warned residents they faced a $250 fine if they shovelled snow onto city streets.