Weather closes US Government offices a second day

US: Federal government agencies in the U.S. capital region will remain closed for a second day on Tuesday as residents brace for another blizzard while trying to clean up from a weekend storm that paralyzed the area with two feet (65 cm) of snow.

Another big winter storm was expected to hit the U.S. mid-Atlantic from about noon/1700 GMT on Tuesday and last through Wednesday, the National Weather Service forecast on Monday. Projected snowfall ranged from 10 to 20 inches (25 to 51 cm), it said. The potentially crippling new storm was expected to hit other big cities along the East Coast, including Baltimore and Philadelphia, that are still digging out and extend into New Jersey and New York.

It would pile on to the 32 inches (81 cm) of snow that fell in suburban Washington in the biggest snowfall to hit the city in decades.

The Office of Personnel Management announced on Monday evening that federal government offices in the Washington area would be closed on Tuesday. Emergency employees were expected to report for work on time, but nonemergency employees were excused.

The federal government was closed on Monday, though President Barack Obama still held meetings at the White House. Schools and most businesses in the region also were shut.

Local officials in Montgomery County, Maryland, said the next storm could cause some roofs to collapse from the weight of all the snow and there could be more power outages.

Washington, Reuters