Staff | Earth Times

The second US blizzard in five days walloped the nation's capital, then spread early Thursday to New York and southern New England, dumping 23 centimetres of snow on Manhattan's Central Park and 25 centimetres on Connecticut. The biggest challenge lay ahead for the Washington-Baltimore-Philadelphia region, which had barely dug out from the 45 to 60 centimeters of snow it received last weekend when the second punch dropped another 26 to 55 centimetres on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Stars sparkled in a clear sky early Thursday over Washington while giant front-end loaders scooped snow onto 2-metre-high piles. The blizzards turned places like suburban Maryland into giant igloos. Shoveled pathways ended in ice walls created by snow plows on cross streets. Navigating anywhere on foot was like walking a maze.

Washington faced an unprecedented fourth day of shutdown: The federal government was closed again Thursday, the Metro system was still serving only underground stations. All bus services were suspended. Museums, zoos, schools, universities and businesses remained closed.

At the storm's peak Wednesday, 80-kilometre-per-hour winds shrouded the White House and Capitol in swirling white and forced snow crews and electric-utility repair teams to retreat for hours because of a lack of visibility. One local NBC reporter traveled all day on treacherous roads and found only one supermarket open.

Airports in Washington might open for some flights Thursday, but those plans were uncertain, media reports said. Since Friday, hundreds of flights have been cancelled as airports closed.

Athletes, their families and journalists who were headed to Vancouver, Canada, for Friday's opening of the Winter Olympics met with some delays. US ice dancers Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, the 2006 Olympic silver medalists who compete on February 19, were nervously waiting out the second storm in Philadelphia, according to The New York Times.

The second storm, coming on top of near-record snowfall on Friday and Saturday, broke other milestones, pushing the season's snow accumulation to 141.2 centimetres in Washington and breaking a 111-year-old record of 138.2 centimetres, according to the National Weather Service.

For Philadelphia, the season's total reached nearly 178.6 centimetres, beating the 1995-96 record of 166.4 centimetres. Baltimore's 183.6 centimetres topped its 158.8-centimetre record also set in 1995-96.

Government safety officials worried about the new weight of snow on already overburdened roofs. Dozens of roofs have collapsed as minus-6 Celsius temperatures turned melt into heavy ice. On Wednesday evening, the roof of a US Mint building near Landover, Maryland, collapsed, The Washington Post reported.

Salt was in short supply. Trucks were spending eight to 10 hours in line waiting to fetch new supplies at Baltimore and other sea ports, The Washington Post reported.

Downed trees and power lines prompted Amtrak and other rail operators to cancel dozens of trains Thursday.

Power companies breathed a sigh of relief with only 45,000 customers losing power in the Washington-Baltimore corridor, compared with hundreds of thousands over the weekend. Officials said the first storm had taken down most of the weak trees and branches, and the snow in the second storm was lighter and blown away by the strong winds.

Despite treacherous roads, only a few deaths from traffic accidents had been reported since Friday. Some people without electricity fell ill after trying to heat their homes with outdoor charcoal burners.

Not all was work and stress. In the midst of Wednesday's blizzard, 400 people in the nation's capital gathered at DuPont Circle for a digitally organized snowball fight.