The second major snowstorm in a week has today swept up the US East Coast, piling on already-snowbound Washington, where most federal government offices have been shut down since last week, and moving on to New York City.

The storm dumped more than 25 centimetres of snow on parts of the Washington area that already had been hit with 90 centimetres in a blizzard over the weekend.

New York, which managed to avoid last week's blizzard, was not so lucky today. Flakes were coming down fast during the morning commute, and the National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings and predicted 25 to 40 centimetres of snowfall.

Airlines have cancelled hundreds of flights at New York-area airports, and the city school system's 1.1 million students enjoyed a "snow day" - only the third in six years.

Snow was falling from northern Virginia to Connecticut by early today after crawling out of the Midwest, where the storm cancelled hundreds of flights and was blamed for three road accident deaths in Michigan.

In the Washington area, the storms have kept some workers and students at home for the better part of a week. About 230,000 federal workers in Washington have been off since Friday afternoon, when the first storm began.

The US House of Representatives announced it was scrapping the rest of its work week. Several hearings and meetings in Congress and federal agencies were postponed.

"It's embarrassing that the world's largest superpower closes from a few feet of snow," said Alex Krause, 23, of Los Angeles, who was stranded in Washington and visiting the National Mall. "The Kremlin must be laughing," he added.

But the effects of the federal government's closure were negligible since about 85% of federal employees work outside the Washington region.

Before the latest storm, Washington and Philadelphia were 23 centimetres away from their snowiest winters since 1884, the first year records were kept.

"It's hard to find anything in the history books of these types of storms back-to-back," said National Weather Service meteorologist Stephen Konarik.

Thousands remained without power from the last storm in parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland and other areas, and deep snow and gusty winds were expected to complicate efforts to restore power.