Another big snowstorm forecast for US 

Source: ReutersThe White House blanketed by heavy snow

Another big winter storm was forecast on Tuesday for the US mid-Atlantic still struggling to dig out from a blizzard that dumped half a metre of snow and closed the federal government.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for Washington, DC, beginning at 6am Wednesday NZT (noon Tuesday local time) and continuing into Thursday, with projected snow totals of 25 to 51 cm.

The potentially crippling new storm was expected to hit other big cities along the East Coast, like Baltimore and Philadelphia, that are still digging out and extend into New Jersey and New York.

It would only add to the 81 cm of snow that had fallen in suburban Washington in the biggest snowfall to hit the city in decades.

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

As officials worked to clear snow-covered streets from the Washington area, residents braced for another storm expected to dump much more snow than initially forecast.

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.

In the county, about 80,000 people lost power on Sunday, and some customers still had no electricity or heat on Tuesday. Many schools said classes would be canceled through Tuesday, even before the latest storm warning.

On Tuesday, winter sunshine bathed the nation's capital and the surrounding region, where people dug out their driveways and sidewalks, and plows finally started to clear streets in some residential neighborhoods.

Bus service on Tuesday was limited to just a small number of routes in the Washington, DC, area and the region's subway ran trains only on the underground portion of the system.

In New York, oil rose nearly 1% on Tuesday, after three sessions of losses stemming from the weaker US dollar, geopolitical disputes, and the cold weather.

Unusually cold weather will settle across key heating fuel consuming regions in the United States this week, in the wake of heavy snow over the weekend and the next storm coming, forecasters said.

In Chicago, winter is wreaking havoc on the nation's livestock and energy markets and there may be at least three more weeks of cold, snowy weather.

Cold and snow blanketed much of the central United States this winter, slowing weight gain in cattle and hogs, delaying livestock sales, and increasing feed costs for producers.

The new storm might also hit the Northeast, the nation's largest market for heating fuel. The weekend blast largely bypassed that region.