A blizzard swept across the northeastern United States, closing schools, cancelling thousands of flights and leaving residents in the hardest-hit parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut digging out as much as 60cm of snow.
But New York City was spared the worst of the storm.
The governors of New York and New Jersey lifted travel bans they had imposed a day earlier and New York City's subway system restarted after being closed for ten hours, but officials urged people to stay off snow-covered roads.
The snow was forecast to continue into early tomorrow in eastern New England, which could set a new snowfall record in Boston, where 46cm of snow was already on the ground by midday, often piled higher by strong winds.
"There are drifts now of four, five and six feet in some places," Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker told reporters.
Boston-area subways would remain closed for at least the rest of the day, Mr Baker said.
Police said a teenager died late on Monday when he crashed into a lamppost on a street where he was snow-tubing on Long Island, one of the hardest hit areas in New York state.
The National Weather Service lifted its blizzard warning for the New York City area, but throughout the region offices were closed, schools were shut, some roads remained impassable, and thousands of flights were cancelled or delayed.
A blizzard warning remained in effect for much of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, where snow was expected to fall throughout the day at a rate as high as 5cm to 8cm an hour.
Boston could receive up to 64cm of accumulation, approaching the record of 69.85cm set in February 2003.
Some in New York criticised the aggressive warnings of officials including Governor Andrew Cuomo, who for the first-time in history ordered the city's round-the-clock subways to close for a snowstorm.
Officials with vivid memories of disasters including 2012's superstorm Sandy defended their actions.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered schools to re-open tomorrow and Broadway's theatres planned to open their doors tonight as the city began to return to normal.
The New York Stock Exchange opened as usual. Nasdaq OMX Group and BATS Global Markets also expected to stay open for normal operating hours.
