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A blizzard hit New York, marking the largest storm in the city’s history

NEW YORK. — A blizzard swept across the north-eastern United States yesterday, dropping more than 30 cm of snow across Massachusetts and Connecticut even as its impact on New York City fell short of dire predictions.

The governors of New York and New Jersey lifted travel bans they had imposed a day earlier and New York City’s subway system was set to restart, though officials urged people who did not have to drive to stay off snow-covered roadways.

A blizzard warning remained in effect for much of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, where snow was expected to go on falling through the day at a rate as high as five to eight centimetres an hour, even as the National Weather Service lifted its blizzard warning for the New York City area.

Some in New York criticised the aggressive warnings of officials including Mayor Bill de Blasio, who for the first time in history ordered the city’s subway to close for a snowstorm. Officials with vivid memories of disasters including 2012’s Superstorm Sandy defended their actions.

Some cab drivers in New York doubled fares and sought to pack additional passengers into their vehicles as office workers headed to their jobs.

New Yorkers were divided on whether officials had over-reacted in ordering dramatic shut-downs ahead of the storm.

“The mayor might have blown it this time but he was probably just playing it safe,” said Manny Martinez, 55, as he salted his driveway in New York’s Brooklyn borough.

Martinez said he was glad to find his shovelling work easier than he had expected, “This is what I was praying for, the white fluffy stuff.”

Others were frustrated that de Blasio had pre-emptively shut the subway and ordered cabs off the roads.

“It’s never as bad as they say it is going to be,” said Greg Noble, 29, as he walked briskly to his maintenance job some 30 city blocks from his Manhattan home. — Reuters.