A huge blizzard battering the east coast of America is causing UK travel chaos with more than 45 flights cancelled so far.

Both inbound and outbound flights from major airports across the country are being affected by the US weather system.

Officials are expecting blizzard conditions to combine with brutally high winds, inland flooding, white-out conditions and the possibility of thunder snow.

And the US capital, Washington, is braced for up to 2ft (60cm) of snow fall over the weekend.

The storm has so far caused more than 4,250 flights into, within or out of the United States to be cancelled according to the website FlightAware - with at least 45 of these originating from or departing to major UK airports.

A spokesperson for Heathrow confirmed as of midday on Saturday that a total of 47 inbound and outbound flights to the US had been cancelled.

"The vast majority of passengers were made aware by their airlines of cancellations - Heathrow is running normally as most people have already been told," they said.

At Glasgow Airport the one daily flight leaving the airport on Saturday was cancelled on Friday ahead of the weather system hitting the east coast.

It is unclear if Sunday's United Airlines flight to New York will depart Scottish tarmac as planned.

There has been just one cancellation to North American flights leaving Gatwick on Saturday - with the 5.10pm Norwegian Airways departure to New York grounded.

A spokesperson said there may be more cancelled flights, adding: "Our advice is for anyone travelling to check with their airlines for an update before they leave for the airport."

A state of emergency was declared across a vast swathe of the eastern seaboard, with individual states in near-shutdown after thousands of flights were cancelled, schools and government offices closed and sports and entertainment events called off.

Warnings are in place from Arkansas in the south to New York in the far north east, and millions of people have been stocking up on food and emergency supplies.

It has been estimated that up to a billion dollars (£700 million) of damage could be caused by the winter storm.

So far at least nine people have died in the US and 10 states have declared emergencies as Storm Jonas edges across the country and air travel continues to be impacted.

Birmingham Airport confirmed that two flights from the US landed at around 7am on Saturday, but that one American Airlines flight to JFK and one United Airline flight to Newark did not depart as planned.

"Affected passengers were told with enough time and the two flights today are grounded here," said a spokesman for Birmingham Airport, adding that the "two flights are expected to depart tomorrow" as conditions ease across America's east coast.

Edinburgh Airport also urged passengers travelling to the US to contact their airline, after the cancellation of one flight on Saturday to New York.

It is thought there are thousands of homes currently without power and buses in New York have been suspended as heavy snow continues to fall in what the mayor, Bill de Blasio, has called one of the worst snow storms to hit the city.