'Crippling' Blizzard Shuts Down Major US Cities

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By Sky News US Team

New York, Philadelphia and other cities are shutting down as a monster blizzard threatens to bring misery to some 35 million Americans in the region.

Officials have ordered workers to go home early, banned travel and closed bridges and tunnels. The snow threatened to affect people in a dozen states.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo banned travel from 11pm for all but emergency vehicles on roads.

As snow fell steadily early on Tuesday, the city was eerily quiet, with no planes in the sky and a few municipal trucks rumbling down empty streets.

Mayor Bill de Blasio urged New Yorkers to go home and stay there, adding: "People have to make smart decisions from this point on."

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Gallery: Blizzard Slams US Northeast

The blizzard affects millions of people in states across the Northeast

New York and other cities have shut down as they brace for the storm

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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo banned travel from 11pm for all but emergency vehicles on roads. Here a pedestrian walks across Eighth Avenue in Manhattan

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Wall Street plans to operate normally on Tuesday

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Mayor Bill de Blasio urged New Yorkers to go home and stay there

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Schools closes early, Broadway stages went dark and subway trains were halted.

Shoppers stocking up on food jammed supermarkets and elbowed one another for what was left.

Officials have called the blizzard "crippling" and "potentially historic".

Some earlier estimates that the storm could dump up to 3ft (90cm) of snow were revised down, with officials now saying that the worst would be about 2ft (60cm).

Boston and Providence, Rhode Island, could get the most snow. New York could see up to 20in (50cm).

In Boston, the blizzard halted jury selection on Tuesday in the trial of suspected Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

Travel was snarled for millions.

More than 7,700 flights in and out of the Northeast were cancelled, and many of them may not take off again until Wednesday. New York airports are among the worst affected.

Amtrak suspended rail service on Tuesday between New York and Boston, and into New York state, Vermont, Massachusetts and Maine.

Stuck at home, many Easterners turned to social media to give voice to their frustration, adopting such storm-related hashtags as #blizzardof2015, #Snowmageddon2015 and #Snowpocalypse.

"Across NE, millions are panicked they may lose internet and have to talk to their families. Trying hard to remember names. #Snowmageddon2015," tweeted Stuart Stevens, who goes by the Twitter handle @stuartpstevens.

On Wall Street, however, the New York Stock Exchange stayed open and said it would operate normally on Tuesday as well.

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