A bitter chill heaped new misery on the US east coast yesterday, leaving thousands shivering without power as emergency crews battled to clear snow-clogged streets before a new winter storm hits.
Major highways partially cleared after a 24-hour record-breaking storm blew out into the Atlantic quickly turned into icy death traps, as temperatures dropped as low as minus 11 Celsius.
"This is really challenging for us, and will continue to be a challenge for most of the week," said Laura Southard from the Virginia emergency management centre, highlighting that another storm is due to hit the region tomorrow.
With record snowfall of more than a metre in many places after a monster blizzard swept across Virginia, Maryland and the nation's capital, bulldozers were having to move in.
"This snow is so deep and so heavy that the traditional snow plows can't shovel in some areas. So bulldozers are physically having to lift it up and away," Ms Southard said.
Virginia police had turned out to more than 4,370 calls, with most being traffic crashes or stranded cars. It is believed only three people died though as a result of the storm.
Hundreds of thousands of people spent a chilly night with candles and hunkered under blankets without power, although crews working round-the-clock did manage to restore electricity to many homes.
But by early yesterday more than 200,000 power outages in Virginia and Maryland had yet to be repaired, amid fears that it could take several days to reach all the affected homes and businesses.
A beautiful sunny morning left Washington DC looking more like an Alpine village, with the White House still swathed in a blanket of snow.
Many residents were beginning to try to dig out cars, and clear paths.
But for the second day running stores and coffee shops, normally open seven days a week in the heart of world capitalism, remained firmly shuttered, while churchgoers were disappointed as services were cancelled.
Transportation systems from the capital's outlying suburbs remained snapped, with no overground metro trains running and no buses.
Reagan domestic airport was still closed Sunday, and there was little likelihood of flights out of the international airports at Baltimore, or Dulles, bogged down by a record 82 centimetres of snow.
In a further blow, officials urged sports fans against going to Super Bowl parties later yesterday - an annual highlight of the social calendar when friends gather to cheer on teams in the National Football League Championship.
"Traditionally it's a really big day, Super Bowl Sunday, but I would encourage people to stay home," said Ed McDonough, spokesman for the Maryland emergency management centre.