A big snowstorm has blanketed many cities on the US east coast. It's the biggest snowfall so far this winter.

Flights have been cancelled and commutes snarled, and the clearing operations are massive.

Aircrafts land on the apron at LaGuardia Airport in New York, Mar. 2, 2009.[Xinhua]

In New York City, people and traffic battled the snow as more than a million schoolchildren got the day off.

The winter storm, which slammed into the city Sunday night, has reportedly dropped as much as 23 centimeters of snow.

Paul Huck, New York resident, said, "I'm done with winter but a good snow is always fun, the first day, the second day when everyone else comes out it's a problem."

In New York's LaGuardia airport, a group of 150 high school students from Chicago was stranded.

"It's very very stressful that we re-book 150 plane tickets when every one else is trying to re-book as well."

The city's Transit planned a full rush hour complement of subway and bus service for Monday. It warned riders should factor in extra travel time nevertheless.

And Washington DC received about ten centimeters of snowfall. The federal government said it would open two hours late and allowed workers to use unscheduled leave. Thousands were left without power.

At morning rush hour, Boston had up to 15 centimeters of snow on the ground, and another 20 to 25 centimeters was expected before the storm finally moved out to sea.

(CCTV March 4, 2009)