Boston (AFP) – Blinding snow whipped up by powerful winds pummeled the eastern United States into Sunday’s early hours, as one of the strongest winter storms in years triggered transport chaos and power outages across a region of some 70 million people. Major cities such as New York and Boston bore the brunt of the blizzard, which the National Weather Service (NWS) confirmed had intensified into a “bomb cyclone” — characterized by the explosive power of rapid drops in atmospheric pressure. The heaviest-hit parts of New York and Massachusetts received two feet (61 centimeters) of snow by early…