Heavy snow blankets Sandy-hit parts of US

During Wednesday afternoon, rain turned to snow from New Jersey to Connecticut as a strong north easterly wind dragged in colder air.

The New York City area was blanketed with 8-13cm of snow, with outer suburbs along with New Jersey and Connecticut seeing as much as 30cm.

Having only recently regained electricity after the damage from Sandy, around 100,000 residents were plunged into darkness for a second time, as strong winds and heavy snow brought down power lines.

Prior to the nor’easter’s arrival, thousands of people in low-lying areas were urged to evacuate as authorities expressed concerns of further flooding.

There were also worries that strong gusts of wind could topple trees and debris that had been wrenched loose when Sandy hit last week.

Danny Arnedos, an Oyster Bay resident, said: “I’m kind of laughing about it at this point. It’s unbelievable to go from like a hurricane to a nor’easter and driving in the snow. I mean in the same week, or same ten days it’s pretty unbelievable.”

Transport struggled as the storm iced the highways and pavements, with road, rail and air networks suffering from delays and cancellations.

The National Weather Service said that gusts of wind as high as 60mph lashed the coast during Wednesday night. Combined with the low temperatures, the chill was felt most by those without power.

New York distributed space heaters and blankets to residents without heat or power and opened shelters to those in need of a warm place to sleep.

However, the snow and ice is going to be short-lived, as warmer air arrives across north eastern parts of the US at the weekend.

As high pressure builds, sunshine will bathe the east coast from Florida to New England, with temperature in the Sandy-hit areas reaching the high teens to low twenties Celsius.