A teenager has died in New York as he crashed into a lamppost while snow-tubing amid a huge storm in the Northeast.

The storm has dropped more than a foot of snow across the region, where many schools and offices are closed and travel bans remain in place.

However, it failed to live up to predictions in some areas.

New York saw just 6in - less than a quarter of the "historic" snowfall that some meteorologists had predicted.

Still, the city - which could see up to 20in - was deserted, with no planes in the sky and a few municipal trucks rumbling down empty streets.

The teen, Sean Urda of East Northport, was out with two friends in Long Island when he lost control and hit the post while riding an inner tube on snow.

He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

The storm packed snow and winds across the region, even as the worst predictions failed to materialise.

Travel was snarled for millions, with more than 4,500 flights cancelled at US airports, according to FlightAware.com. No trains or buses were running in New York, Boston or New Jersey.

Aer Lingus has cancelled a number of flights to and from the US today. The 10.50 flight, EI105 from Dublin to New York and the return at 17.30 from New York are affected.

And EI137 to Boston, which was due to leave Dublin at 2pm has been cancelled, along with its return flight at 6.15 this evening from Boston.

In Hartford, Connecticut, up to a foot of snow was expected. Boston and Providence, Rhode Island, could also get heavy snowfall.

Philadelphia and central New Jersey were spared the brunt of the storm and expected to get about 6in.

Gusty winds blew through the northeast. Winds as high as 126kph were recorded on the island of Nantucket, off Massachusetts.

Boston bomber trial halted over weather

In Boston, the blizzard halted jury selection on Tuesday in the trial of suspected Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

The system threatens to bring misery to some 35 million Americans in the region.

Bracing for the storm, officials have ordered workers to go home early, banned travel and closed bridges and tunnels.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo banned travel from 11pm for all but emergency vehicles on roads.

Mayor Bill de Blasio urged New Yorkers to go home and stay there, adding: "People have to make smart decisions from this point on."

In the lead-up to the storm, shoppers stocked up on food jammed supermarkets and elbowed one another for what was left. Subway trains were halted.

Amtrak suspended rail service on Tuesday between New York and Boston, and into New York state, Vermont, Massachusetts and Maine.

Stuck at home, many Easterners turned to social media to give voice to their frustration, adopting such storm-related hashtags as #blizzardof2015, #Snowmageddon2015 and #Snowpocalypse.

"Across NE, millions are panicked they may lose internet and have to talk to their families. Trying hard to remember names. #Snowmageddon2015," tweeted Stuart Stevens, who goes by the Twitter handle @stuartpstevens.

On Wall Street, however, the New York Stock Exchange stayed open and said it would operate normally on Tuesday as well.