A blizzard has dropped more than a foot of snow across the north-eastern US, although it fell short of the massive predicted snowfall that prompted officials across the region to close schools and order travel bans.

High winds and heavy snow were forecast, with another foot predicted to fall in parts of Boston.

Wind-driven seas caused flooding along some low-lying roadways in coastal Massachusetts, state police said.

The heaviest snowfall was recorded in parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts, while New York City's Central Park saw just 6 inches, less than a quarter of the "historic" snowfall some meteorologists had predicted.

Travel was still snarled, with more than 4,500 flights cancelled at US airports and no trains or buses in New York, Boston or New Jersey.

Forecasts for as much as 3 feet of snow had prompted governors in eight East Coast states to declare states of emergency and the storm affected up to 60 million people in nearly a dozen states.

Residents largely obeyed orders to stay off roadways and broadcasters in New York and Boston showed roads largely free of cars early yesterday.

In New York's Long Island, Suffolk County Police said a teenager had died late on Monday when he crashed into a lampost in the street where he was snow-tubing.

The UN headquarters in New York gave itself a day off and East Coast schools, including New York City -- the nation's largest public school system, serving one million students -- shut down. Universities, including Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, cancelled classes.

But the New York Stock Exchange opened as normal. The last time bad weather closed the stock markets was in October 2012 when Sandy hit the East Coast with flooding, punishing winds and widespread power cuts.