A powerful storm has hit the north-eastern US, prompting flight cancellations, school closures and warnings from city and state officials to stay off the roads.

The storm was expected to dump 1ft to 2ft of snow on the New York City metro area, with wind gusts of up to 55mph.

The weather service's office near Philadelphia called the storm “life-threatening” and warned people to “shelter in place”.

Coastal flood warnings were in effect from Massachusetts to Delaware.

According to the airline-tracking website FlightAware, more than 5,000 flights were cancelled.

Amtrak also cancelled and modified services up and down the north east corridor.

In New York City, the above-ground portions of the subway system were being shut down on Tuesday morning.

In the capital Washington, DC, the US Office of Personnel Management announced a three-hour delayed arrival for non-emergency employees at area federal offices - with an option of unscheduled leave or telework.

Emergency employees of the federal government in the area were to report on time unless otherwise directed.

In Massachusetts, where forecasts were for 12in to 18in of snow, governor Charlie Baker encouraged motorists to stay off the roads and to take public transit only if absolutely necessary.

The fast snowfall rates will “create hazardous driving conditions”, he said.

Schools in New York City, Philadelphia, Boston and elsewhere were all closed on Tuesday.

Bank worker Jana White said her plans for riding out the storm included “lots of hot chocolate and a couple of sappy movies”.

The 23-year-old Trenton, New Jersey, resident said she expected to get Tuesday off work.

“It's a reminder that winter is always ready to take a shot at you, so you have to stay prepared,” she said.

“We've got food and snacks and drinks, so as long as the power stays on we should be in good shape.”

In Maryland, governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency and urged residents not to be lulled into a false sense of security due to the mild winter.

“This is a serious winter storm,” Mr Hogan said, adding that some parts of the state could see more than a foot of snow.

winter-storm-stella.jpg, by admin (AFP/Getty)

“It's obviously going to be the biggest event we've had this season and people need to be prepared. They need to be safe.”

The heaviest snowfall was expected on Tuesday morning through the afternoon, with snowfall rates as high as 2in to 4in per hour.

Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf said that approximately 700 National Guard members would be deployed, along with more than 2,000 snow ploughs to keep up with the storm that was expected to bring a foot or more of snow to some parts of the state.

The nor'easter comes a week after the region saw temperatures climb into the 60s. Spring officially starts on March 20.

The snow threat in the north east was also causing college basketball teams to alter their travel plans as the fierce storm bore down on the region.

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“We are closely tracking the weather and working with our travel partners and teams in the tournament to ensure the safety of our student-athletes, coaches, administrators, officials and fans,” the NCAA said in a statement.

Villanova, the top overall seed in the men's NCAA tournament, left Philadelphia on Monday afternoon for Buffalo, New York, to get ahead of the storm.

There is less of a chance that the women's tournament would be affected: UConn is the only north east team hosting a game and they play on Saturday, giving teams more time to arrive in Connecticut.

Teams in the men's and women's NCAA tournaments have chartered flights so any backlog on commercial planes should not be a problem.