Authorities in America's eastern states have warned that the blizzard could be one of the largest in history
States of emergency were declared across the east of America tonight after a storm predicted to bury New York in three feet of snow took hold.
Nicknamed the “nor’beaster”, 32 million people were affected with airlines cancelling more than 7,000 flights before the blizzard began.
Throughout New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Jersey officials were forced to impose States of emergencies seeing travel bans coming in to affect at early as 9pm and lasting “until further notice”.
Trains were also hit with a much reduced service imposed as visibility dropped to only a few feet.
Read updates on the snowstorm preparations here
Tens of thousands of school children were sent home from school with teachers believing they could be off all week.
The storm, touted by some weather experts as possibly the biggest in New York City history, is set to last well in to Tuesday.
“Change your plans, change your behaviour, change your approach starting right now,” New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
“This is an unprecedented storm. We have to prepare that way.
“We are facing one of the largest snowstorms in the history of the city. The early reports are two to three feet of snow,” he added.
Manhattan was likely to see 'thundersnow' - when snow collides with the dry air, resulting in lightning strikes and rolling thunder.
The warning sparked panic buying in grocery stores with many shops seeing their shelves left bare.
Thousands of travellers were left stranded at airports and railway stations as temperatures dropped to -4c.
New York City's current record for snowfall is 26.9inches in February 2006.
The most extreme predictions for the coming storm exceed that by almost ten inches.
