Eastern US braced for third storm

BOSTON - A winter storm packing a powerful snowy punch bore down on the northeastern United States on Tuesday, closing schools, snarling travel and threatening to knock out power to thousands of homes and businesses.

The nor'easter follows two storms that rumbled up the East Coast this month, killing at least nine people and knocking out power to about 2.4 million people and businesses.

Winter storm warnings were in effect from Connecticut to Maine, the National Weather Service said, warning that cities including Boston could see as much as 46 centimeters of snow, far more than that dumped by the last two storms this month.