Any Brits cursing as they scraped ice off their windscreens this morning might like to spare a thought for those living in the north-east of the US.

Residents had to dig their cars out of deep snow as the second major snow storm in less than a week pummelled Chicago, Detroit and Boston.

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Cars are buried in snow along a residential street in Chicago Scott Olson/Getty Images
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Dwayne Goings uses a shovel to dig out a vehicle buried in snow in Detroit, Michigan Joshua Lott/Getty Images
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Joshua Lott/Getty Images
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Tyler Healy clears snow from his car in Chicago, Illinois. Eighteen inches of snow fell on the city in 24 hours, the fifth largest snowfall in the city's history Scott Olson/Getty Images

The storm, which dropped more than 19 inches (48cm) of snow at O'Hare airport, the fifth biggest snow event recorded in Chicago, prompted some city residents to use the traditional "dibs" system to reserve dug-out parking spaces with lawn chairs, laundry baskets or other household items.

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Residents use chairs to reserve a parking spot on the street after digging a car out of snow in Chicago Scott Olson/Getty Images
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A woman shovels snow on a driveway in the Chicago suburb of Wilmette Jim Young/Reuters
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A man digs a car out of the snow on a residential street in the Chicago suburb of Evanston Jim Young/Reuters
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A man is reflected in Anish Kapoor's snow-covered Cloud Gate sculpture as he walks through Millennium Park in Chicago Jim Young/Reuters
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Two men walk past the Crown Fountain in Chicago during a blizzard Jim Young/Reuters
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MacKenzie Perkins kicks through her recently built snowman in a park in Chicago Jim Young/Reuters
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A boy fall off his sled as he plays in the snow in Detroit Joshua Lott/Getty Images
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A woman using snowshoes walks past an ice-covered tree along Lake Michigan in Chicago, Illinois Jim Young/Reuters

Hundreds of flights were cancelled at Boston's Logan International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, New York's LaGuardia airport and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

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A Visible Infrared image taken by the Suomi satellite shows a huge storm over the north-eastern United States, the region's second wintry blast in less than a week Nasa/Reuters
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A MBTA bus sits stuck in a snowbank in Boston, Massachusetts Dominick Reuter/Reuters

Boston, already buried in two feet (60cm) of snow from a blizzard last week, set a record for the snowiest seven-day period in the city's history. The 34.2 inches (87cm) measured by 1pm on Monday (2 February) surpassed the 31.2 inches (79cm) set in January 1996.

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