Winter Storm Jonas: Wisconsin citizens enjoying calm before the storm in the snow

With much of the eastern US buried under snow, some in the Midwest have been enjoying the adverse conditions. A Wisconsin local car service business built a 32ft (9.75m) long, 12ft (3.65m) high colourful snow sculpture of an alligator eating a sports car.

Bill Eggleston, who helped build the massive creature, said, "We loaded up a big snow bank and overtopped the car, let it freeze for a couple weeks, and then we started playing with the shovels. We let our mind's eye be the guide, didn't have an exact idea of what I wanted it to look like but we just figured how we would see how it turned out at the end."

Thick layers of snow have blanketed cities across the US, with a potentially record-setting blizzard hitting Washington DC on 23 January. According to the Weather Channel, more than 85 million people in 20 states across the country, and Washington DC, have been issued with a weather warning, watch or advisory.

More than 7,100 flights were cancelled in the US on 22-23 January, with an additional 7,000 delayed as well. AccuWeather senior meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said that Washington's snowfall could beat the "storm of 2010 that dropped 17.8 inches (45.2cm)".