Blizzard blasts eastern US, Washington snowed under

One of the worst storms in decades blanketed much of the eastern United States with more than a foot of snow, grounding flights and bringing traffic to a standstill for millions on the final weekend of the busy holiday shopping season.

One of the worst storms in decades blanketed much of the eastern United States with more than a foot of snow, grounding flights and bringing traffic to a standstill for millions on the final weekend of the busy holiday shopping season.

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In the bullseye of the deadly weather, Washington, a city more used to political storms than deep snow drifts set a December snowfall record of more than 13 inches (33 centimetres), shattering a 77-year-old record.

And with as much as another half foot (15 cm) forecast to fall on Washington by dawn on Sunday, the enormous snowstorm stretching some 800 kilometres across a dozen states is set to become one of the biggest to sock the capital since record-keeping began in 1885.

President Barack Obama, attending a heated UN summit in Copenhagen where world leaders struggled over a plan to battle global warming, raced home to avoid the worst of the storm that hammered the East Coast with more than two feet (61 cm) of snow in some places two days before winter's official arrival.