An interactive map shows how winter storm Blair will barrel across the eastern US this week.
More than 60 million have been placed under severe weather alerts, including in the cities of Baltimore, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Louisville, Kentucky and Washington DC.
Blair is currently tracking eastward into the Appalachians and the mid-Atlantic with very heavy snowfall expected through Monday.
Heavy snow, icing and high winds will create travel chaos from the Ohio Valley to the mid-Atlantic, prompting schools and government offices to shutter.
As of Monday morning, at least three people in Virginia and Kansas have died in traffic accidents related to winter storm Blair.
In affected areas, ‘Persons should consider delaying all travel. Motorists should use extreme caution if travel is absolutely necessary,’ the National Weather Service (NWS) warned.
Several states directly in the storm’s path are currently suffering widespread power outages, with more than 350,000 customers impacted across Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia, according to poweroutage.us.
An additional 10,600 are without electricity in Texas, which is not in the storm’s direct path, but is still getting lashed by up to 50 mile per hour wind gusts and below average temperatures from Blair.
Southeastern states will also be impacted as warm air from the Gulf of Mexico clashes with Blair’s cold front.
Strong to severe thunderstorms will develop over parts of the region on Monday, battering states with high-speed wind gusts, isolated tornadoes, frequent lighting and possibly hail.
At least three people have been killed in car accidents during the storm. Pictured are vehicles braving Blair in Ohio
The system will produce six to 12 inches of snow across the mid-Atlantic, including the Washington DC metro area, the NWS stated in a 2:50am ET update.
The storm hit the Plains and the Midwest over the weekend, delivering the heaviest snowfall in years to certain areas.
An additional two to four inches of snow will fall across portions of the Ohio Valley and Central Appalachians, where travel disruptions will continue, the agency added.
On top of the snow, the eastern two-thirds of the US will experience dangerous, bone-chilling cold and wind chills starting Monday, with temperatures 12 to 25 degrees Fahrenheit below normal.
The storm is wreaking havoc on the nation's passenger railways, with more than 20 cancellations Sunday and more than 40 planned for Monday and Tuesday.
Nearly 1,500 flights were canceled and another 740 delayed nationwide on Monday morning, according to tracking platform FlightAware.
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia has cancelled 426 flights Monday, roughly half of its total daily flights.
The storm is wreaking havoc in the Ohio Valley as it moves east out of the Midwest.
School closings are expected to be widespread Monday, as districts in Indiana, Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri and Kansas began announcing cancellations and delays Sunday afternoon.
The eastern two-thirds of the US will experience dangerous, bone-chilling cold and wind chills starting Monday, with temperatures 12 to 25 degrees Fahrenheit below normal
Owensboro, Kentucky received heavy snowfall as winter storm Blair barreled across the Ohio Valley
Roughly ten inches of snow fell across Kansas, with a whopping 18 inches — the maximum reported for this storm thus far — in Chapman and St. George.
On Sunday, Kansas City, Missouri saw its heaviest snowstorm since February 1993, with 11 inches of accumulation.
Thus far, the highest snowfall total for this state is 18 inches at three different northeastern locations.
A record eight inches of snow fell Sunday at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, leading to dozens of flight cancellations that lingered into Monday.
A few more inches of snow were expected Monday across the Cincinnati area, where car and truck crashes shutdown at least two major routes leading into downtown.
In Indiana, snow fully covered portions of Interstate 64, Interstate 69 and US Route 41, prompting Indiana State Police to urge motorists to stay off the roads as plows worked to keep up.
Salina, Kansas: A photo released by Kansas Highway Patrol shows a car wedged between two trucks due to icy weather on January 4
As of Monday morning at 9:20am ET, winter storm Blair was moving into mid-Atlantic states, delivering heavy snow
Snow, rain and a wintery mix will continue to fall along the Eastern Seaboard through Monday
In Kentucky, Louisville recorded 7.7 inches of snow on Sunday, which set a new record for the highest snowfall, smashing the previous record of 3 inches in 1910.
Over the weekend, at least 600 motorists were stranded in Missouri, authorities said.
Hundreds of car accidents were reported in Virginia, Indiana, Kansas and Kentucky, where a state trooper was treated for non-life-threatening injuries after his patrol car was hit.
In Virginia alone, more than 200 vehicle crashes have occurred in a 12-hour period between 4pm Sunday and 4am Monday, according to state police, one of which was fatal.
The 32-year-old man died around midnight in Wakefield, which is south of Richmond, after his truck ran off the road and struck a tree.
Police said he was driving too fast for roadway conditions and wasn’t wearing a seat belt, while alcohol appears to be a factor.
Two others are reported dead in a single-vehicle crash in Sedgwick County, Kansas. The accident occurred at 8:40 p.m. on Sunday.
Mid-Atlantic states have already received several inches of snow, and could receive an additional inch to one inch by the end of the day as the storm marches further East.
Over the next 24 hours, Blair will deliver an additional one to five inches of snow to cities such as Indianapolis, Charleston and Washington DC
A wide swath of the eastern US is under winter weather advisories as winter storm Blair surges toward the Atlantic coast
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Baltimore and Washington DC both reported moderate to heavy snow and low visibility early this morning.
Parts of the DC metro area have seen up to six inches of snowfall, with some sleet is beginning to mix in.
But DC, Maryland and Virginia can expect a break from the severe winter weather in the next few hours, according to radar which shows a 'dry slot' approaching this area, The Weather Channel reported.
Winter storm Blair will mostly remain south of the Northeast, but it will have some impact on the tri-state area and the Philadelphia metro area.
All of South Jersey is under a weather alert, with Ocean County likely to see the highest accumulation of three to six inches of snow Monday. The rest of the state could see one to three inches.
New York's Hudson Valley, Long Island and the state of Connecticut can also expect a light dusting to two inches.
Overall, NYC is expected to receive one to two inches. The highest totals are most likely be found in Staten Island, along with southern portions of Brooklyn and Queens.
Lower Chester counties in Pennsylvania are under a winter storm alert including Philadelphia where two to four inches are expected to accumulate Monday.
In the Southeast, Blair's impact will look quite different, with severe thunderstorms, scattered tornadoes and high winds battering states along the Gulf Coast.
The NWS issued cold weather advisories for a large swath of Texas including Dallas and Fort Worth, southern Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida panhandle down to central Florida.
Freeze warnings have been issued for southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana, as well as northeast Florida and southeast Georgia.
The storm will continue to ravage the eastern US through Tuesday, when it is expected to move offshore and into the Atlantic.