Around the World: United States

Snow blankets Midwest

A fierce winter storm hammered more than a dozen US states late on Tuesday with dangerous ice, heavy snow and vicious winds that threatened to create 4.5-meter drifts in parts of the Upper Midwest.

As much as two-thirds of the US will be affected by the storm by the time it moves off the Maine coast tonight, said Jim Lee, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Des Moines.