America snow update: Florida the only US state to escape 'Weather bomb'

 
For those already on the slopes, it's great news. For just about everyone else in the US, the blanket of snow that has fallen in 49 of America's 50 states is causing chaos.
Blizzards have left airports across the country struggling to cope, with the aptly named Sunshine State of Florida the only region to have not experienced some snow. 
Tourists in the Big Apple are negotiating the city's sights but only after emergency workers with ploughs and salt spreaders worked to clear roads.
Stung by criticism of how the city authorities handled a snowfall just after Christmas, Mayor Michael Bloomberg had clearly learned his lesson and ensured - this time at least - that the city was open for business.

Alternate transport: An unidentified New Yorker takes the opportunity to save some money on a skiing holiday by indulging his passion in Central Park

Meanwhile, in Florida, the new Salvador Dali museum was basking under blue skies in St Petersburg

Snow started falling late on Tuesday. By early Wednesday, 4.5 inches accumulated in Central Park, 3.7 inches at New Jersey's Newark airport, and 5.3 inches in Stamford, Connecticut. Many of the city's rail services were also affected.
The Long Island Rail Road was this afternoon operating a 'significantly reduced' service with 23 trains cancelled.
In New England, the National Weather Service predicted up to a foot across most of Connecticut and the Boston area.
The storm is the third to hit New York in less than three weeks, after the December 26 blizzard dumped 29 inches of snow in parts of the city and last week's threat turned into just a 2-inch dusting.

Battle against the elements: A man works to de-ice a Continental plane as a bulldozer clears snow off the tarmac at the airport today

Badly hit: Some flights out of Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts were cancelled today

In New Jersey, residents suffered at least 4 inches of snow throughout the state and up to a foot in parts. And Pennsylvania transportation officials urged residents to avoid travel unless absolutely necessary. As the storm approached on Tuesday, the city of Philadelphia declared a snow emergency. City officials expected 4 to 8 inches.

 

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Meteorologist Jim Hayes at the weather service office in Mount Holly, New Jersey, said the storm was just about over for the city and southeastern Pennsylvania by 3am. Five inches had accumulated in Philadelphia.
Bridgeport, Connecticut's largest city, also declared a snow emergency.

Weather warning: Pedestrians venture out in Albany, New York, with shovels today in anticipation of a difficult journey to work

Nice weather for dogs: A couple venture out today after fresh snowfall in New York overnight

Snow and ice shut down much of the South for two days.
Road crews lacked winter equipment, salt and sand to clear the roads, and millions of people just stayed home.
Postal deliveries were restricted, and many schools and other institutions closed.

The storm was blamed for 11 deaths and many more injuries.
Despite the inconvenience, Southerners confronted the aftermath with patience - and a certain amount of wonder.

Snowscape: Around six inches fell on New York overnight, turning the rooftops white in a picture taken this morning

Hard work: A resident clears the end of his driveway with a snowblower along Route 1A in Walpole, Massachusetts today

Call in the cavalry: A group of snow plows works to clear Route 1 during whiteout conditions in Foxborough, Massachusetts today

Lynn Marentette, a school psychologist who lives south of Charlotte, North Carolina, stayed home after classes were cancelled.
She spent Tuesday catching up with friends on Facebook and watching children sled down a nearby hill - and ignored the stack of paperwork on her desk.
'It is a beautiful, beautiful day out there,' she said.
'I have some paperwork and some things I've really put off doing, but how often do you have a chance to enjoy the snow?'

Widespread: A blanket of snow covers the North Lawn of the White House in Washington today

Treacherous: A tractor trailer is nearly obscured by blowing snow on Interstate 495 near Franklin, Massachusetts

Windsor, Connecticut: Roy Williams shovels snow after his vehicle got tramped on Interstate 91 southbound today. Mr Williams said a plow clearing the highway passed by and blocked him in

Nobody seemed to be complaining much at Lookout Mountain near Chattanooga, either.
'It's a once-in-a-decade event. There is no reason to prepare for it. It is not a wise spending of funds,' said Brent Taylor, an executive for the United Way who was pulling a sled carrying his five-year-old daughters, Elise and Grace.
The South's experience offered a preview of what's in store for states from Ohio to New England.
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino late yesterday declared a snow emergency, which bans parking on all major streets and cancels public schools.
By the evening, widespread flight cancellations moved from the South into the Northeast and Great Lakes ahead of the storm.

At least someone's having fun: Children created a giant Snowzilla in Anchorage, Alaska today

Winter wonderland: A morning commuter passes snow covered trees along the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston

More than 3,500 flights were cancelled for Tuesday, and at least 1,000 more were expected to be cancelled by this morning from Atlanta to Chicago to Boston. At American Airlines, one type of flight was sacrosanct - international ones leaving out of New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

'We will do everything we can to launch and fly our international flights,' spokesman Tim Smith said.
The nation's largest commuter railroad, the Long Island Rail Road, suspended service to prevent trains from becoming snowbound.

Clear up: Angel Carregal pilots a snow blower in front of the New York Stock Exchange this morning after the city was hit by a storm

One step at a time: Workmen shovel snow off the steps of the New York City Supreme Court today after last night's heavy snowfall

White-out: Jim Schumacher struggles to dig out his car near his home in Albany, N.Y. today

Some New Yorkers said they were nervous about the snow, given the city's poor cleanup of the post-Christmas blizzard.
'I'm not sure anybody's going to make the right decisions,' said Andre Borshch, of Brooklyn.
'Alaska and Canada spend six months like this, and they have no problems, but here in New York, the city doesn't know what to do with snow. It's like they've forgotten how to do it.'

After the blizzard, city officials admitted mistakes, beginning when commissioners considered calling a snow emergency but didn't.
The snow emergency declaration keeps private vehicles without snow tires or chains off designated snow routes and bans parking along those routes.

Buried: A National Operational Hydrologic Remote Sensing Center map showing how 49 out of 50 states currently have snow on the ground - Florida being the odd one out

In this satellite image from the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA), a winter storm is seen working its way up the Atlantic coast this morning

The city last declared a snow emergency in 2005.
Bloomberg administration officials on Tuesday again decided against declaring a snow emergency, instead issuing a lower-level weather emergency. The move serves mostly as a mechanism to alert local agencies and residents about the seriousness of the storm.
It urges motorists to avoid unnecessary driving, informs them that their cars could be towed at their expense if they impede plows and suspends garbage collections and parking meter