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NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department asked a judge on Friday for a one-month extension to finish publicly releasing thousands of emails sent by Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton while she was secretary of state, in part because a winter storm closed government offices.

The department said in a federal court filing it needed until Feb. 29 after realizing this week that it had "overlooked" emails amounting to 7,254 printed pages that it should have already shared with other agencies for them to review for sensitive information.

It said expected heavy snow in Washington, D.C., had interrupted delivery of these emails to other agencies. Many federal offices closed early on Friday afternoon.

In a statement, Mark Toner, a department spokesman, said "the remaining emails are also the most complex to process as they contain a large amount of material that required interagency review." He said the department would release as many emails "as possible" on Jan. 29, the original deadline ordered by the court.