At least five people have died in a winter storm that grips vast swaths of the United States in its icy grip, leading to mass school closures, travel chaos and power outages.
Seven US states declared a state of emergency: Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, and Arkansas.
More than 2,000 flights have been cancelled, and about 6,500 flight delays have been reported due to severe weather caused by the polar vortex of icy cold air that normally circulates around the North Pole.
More than a quarter of a million people were without power on Monday afternoon, with snow expected to continue into the night on the East Coast.
Getty ImagesAccording to meteorologists, cold Arctic air is expected to maintain icy conditions in part of the country for several more weeks.
In Washington, D.C. – where lawmakers met Monday to certify Donald Trump's victory in the November election – about 5-9 inches (13-23 cm) of snow fell, with up to a foot recorded in parts of neighboring Maryland and Virginia.
In front of the Washington Monument, hundreds of local residents gathered at a local park for a snowball fight, a tradition now 15 years old.
“Just having fun,” one local resident told the BBC. “I've never had a snowball fight before.”
Former US Olympic skier Claire Egan was found cross-country skiing on the National Mall, the main thoroughfare in the US capital.
She told the Associated Press that she thought “my skating days were probably behind me.”
A weather emergency was declared in Washington, D.C., until the early hours of Tuesday as a result of the system that the Weather Channel called Winter Storm Blair.
Children who were scheduled to return to the classroom Monday after the Christmas and Hanukkah holidays instead enjoyed a snow day with school districts from Maryland to Kansas closed.
Getty ImagesIn other parts of the United States, the winter storm brought with it dangerous road conditions.
In Missouri, the State Highway Patrol said at least 365 people were involved in a traffic accident on Sunday, injuring dozens and killing at least one person.
In nearby Kansas, one of the worst-hit states, local news reported that two people died in a car accident during the storm.
In Houston, Texas, a person was found dead due to cold weather in front of a bus station on Monday morning, authorities said.
In Virginia, where 300 car accidents were reported between midnight and Monday morning, authorities warned local residents to avoid driving in large parts of the state.
Local media reports said that at least one motorist was killed.
Getty ImagesMatthew Capucci, a meteorologist at the weather app MyRadar, told the BBC that Kansas City had seen its heaviest snowfall in 32 years.
He added that some areas near the Ohio River in the states of Kansas and Missouri have turned into “skating rinks” amid extremely cold temperatures.
He said: “The plows broke down, the police broke down, and everyone is stuck. Stay in your homes.”
Data from tracking website Poweroutage.us shows that more than 260,000 people were without power Monday afternoon, across the storm's path through Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia.
