Winter storm leaves large US region blanketed in snow, ice

A major storm system that blanketed a large swathe of the central and eastern United States in snow and ice - disrupting travel for millions and contributing to at least five deaths-was headed offshore on Monday night, forecasters said.

More than 2,300 US flights were cancelled on Monday with thousands more delayed amid the winter storm, tracking website FlightAware showed, compounding similar air travel headaches from the day before.

Meanwhile, nearly 200,000 customers remained without power from Missouri to Virginia as frigid temperatures settled in Monday night, according to Poweroutage us, another tracking site.

The National Weather Service (NWS) said the event, the country's first major winter storm of the year, "will be quickly exiting eastward into the western Atlantic tonight," but that some small snowfall accumulations would continue to be possible in some mountainous and Mid-Atlantic areas.

Behind the storm, there was expected to be frigid temperatures for days, with cities such as Kansas City expecting windchills below minus 17 degrees Celsius.

The mercury could sink tens of degrees below seasonal norms on the US Gulf Coast.

In Washington, several inches of snow did not hinder Congress from meeting to certify Donald Trump's election victory, four years to the day after his supporters stormed the US Capitol to try to overturn his 2020 loss.