Schools in the Washington area were shuttered and thousands of homes still without power after the massive snowfall Friday and Saturday left whole neighborhoods entombed in as much as three feet (one meter) of snow.

Harried commuters in the mid-Atlantic states struggled to dig out buried cars and trundle to work on icy roads, while metro users in the capital suffered long waits despite the relaunch of suspended overground services.

Most of the 230,000 federal employees were off work for a second day, although isolated government offices including the White House, parts of Congress and some agencies, were operational.

Just as a thaw had brought hope of respite, forecasters said snow-weary residents faced another wintry onslaught, with 10 to 20 inches (25 to 50 centimeters) of fresh snow due to fall from Tuesday night through Wednesday.

"Areas of the northern mid-Atlantic that are still digging out from the historic blizzard of February 5-6 have the potential to receive additional snowfall totals of 10-20 inches," the National Weather Service said.

"This could make the winter of 2009-2010 the snowiest on record for many locations in the mid-Atlantic," a statement said.

Unlike the last blizzard, Tuesday's storm was expected to travel further up the east coast, reaching as far north as New England.

School officials in the Washington region said they won't reopen until after next Monday's President's Day holiday, a daunting prospect for parents with stir-crazy kids.

Jennifer Ganem, stuck at home in the Maryland suburbs with four children under the age of 10, said her family had been particularly challenged by a weekend power outage that kept them in the dark for almost two days.

The upside she said was "we played a lot of card games and they handled the cold much better than I expected. They've held up great. I think that they're more resilient than adults are."

The deepest snow left by what the media has dubbed "Snowmageddon" was in the small town of Colesville, central Maryland, which was buried in 40 inches (101 centimeters) of powder, the National Weather Service said.

Airports in the area, which closed down during the worst of the weekend blizzard, faced the prospect of more delays and cancellations.

Washington DC, Virginia and Maryland all declared emergencies, allowing them to mobilize the National Guard to help cope with the unprecedented snow.

Even without the new snowfall, energy companies said it could take days to restore power to homes plunged into the dark when falling trees and branches snapped lines.

The new snowfall was set to arrive just as life was beginning to return to normal, as metro trains resumed a more normal service and residents in the hardest-hit areas finally cleared their blocked driveways.

Ganem said news of another blast of snow was a real downer even for her children who usually look forward to sledding and snow days off from school.

"My daughter actually said to me this morning, 'OK, I'm done with winter now,'" she said.

"That's a bad sign when you've got 20 more inches of snow coming."

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