The National Weather Service reported snow on the ground in 49 of the 50 states -- only Florida was spared -- and much of the South was still battling icy conditions that made roads dangerous and led to several traffic deaths.
Boston and the New England states were hardest hit, with snow there accompanied by thunder and lightning.
Some 12 to 14 inches fell in the Boston area. New York City was hit with about 8 inches of snow, less than half the amount that fell in a post-Christmas blizzard that paralyzed the city.
The storm gave New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg a chance to make up for his much-criticized response to the December 26-27 blizzard, when buses and ambulances got stuck and entire neighborhoods were cut off for days. The city admitted mistakes were made in the cleanup. This time, major streets were cleared in time for rush hour.
New York's John F. Kennedy airport had 300 flights canceled, and LaGuardia airport saw another 650 flights canceled, officials said.
Snowfall ended in New York by the morning rush hour, but Boston and other areas north of New York were still getting hit with snow falling at more than an inch per hour into Wednesday morning, a rate that makes it difficult for plows to keep pace. Snow was expected to fall in Boston and New England until midday.
Passenger railroad Amtrak temporarily suspended service between New York City and Boston after a fallen tree damaged the overhead power system.
Financial markets were expected to operate normally, though possibly with lower volume. Some Wall Street workers stayed in hotels overnight.
"This is nothing at all. It's not bad," said Michael Visone, 40, from Verona, New Jersey, waiting to get coffee near his lower Manhattan hotel. "I would have been able to get in."
Many New York City streets were slippery early Wednesday morning. Traffic slowed to a crawl.
"Driving in the city was still kind of tricky even if the streets were plowed," said Fantino Trentini, 31, an office assistant.
Oil prices crept higher with benchmark Brent crude above $98 a barrel for the first time in 27 months, in part because of higher heating demand in the U.S. Northeast, the world's biggest heating oil market.
Bloomberg declared a weather emergency late on Tuesday, but after observing overnight snowfalls, city officials determined that students could get to class and schools remained open. The declaration of a school "snow day" is a benchmark indicating the severity of a storm.
In Philadelphia, about six inches of snow fell.
Some 120 passengers were stranded at Philadelphia International Airport overnight, and were given blankets, pillows, snacks and water, said spokeswoman Victoria Lupica.
Philadelphia schools closed for 155,000 students
New York's Sanitation Department, which is in charge of plowing the streets, said major arteries were clear and that 50 to 75 percent of secondary streets had been plowed at least once.
The previous storm -- the sixth largest in city history -- dumped 20 inches on New York's Central Park over 17 hours on December 26 and 27.
"Looks like they did all right this time," said Leyla Saad, 25, who works in retail.
(Additional reporting by Kristina Cooke, Bernd Debusmann Jr., Ros Krasny and Jon Hurdle; Editing by Vicki Allen)
-Yahoo news
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