Britons heading to New York this weekend for a romantic getaway may be luckier than they think, having escaped some of the worst weather in the Big Apple since record-keeping began.Although February 14th is likely to be a slushy affair, the city is returning to normal.City workers clad in bright orange parkas shovelled snow from tourist hotspot Times Square and the theatres on Broadway offered discount tickets in a bid to fill empty seats in shows, after the weekend storms drove down ticket sales.

It’s kind of like a bonus day for theatregoers, said ‘Memphis’ producer Sue Frost.You’ve got time on your hands you didn’t know you had. What better thing to do than slush down the street and go see a Broadway show.Elsewhere, the U.S. is counting the cost of the recent severe weather after many of its major cities were hit by record amounts of snow.

Two blizzards in a week brought the North East to a standstill with dozens of flights cancelled and government buildings closed.Major cities including Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston have all been affected by the second successive blizzard in a week and life is only gradually returning to normal.Many airlines including BA and Virgin pre-emptively cancelled flights to Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York this week as the weather put many runways out of action.Washington broke a centuries-old record for snowfall, with 54.9 inches collected, a half-inch above the previous record from the 1898-1899 season. Nearby Baltimore also set a new record, and meteorologists warned the blizzards may not be the last the region has seen this year.