The weeklong Arctic cold that's blanketed much of the nation has taken more than 50 lives, officials said, as 95 million people in the United States are under winter weather warnings Friday.
Freeze alerts were issued overnight across a swath of the South, from Texas to Florida, where 15 million Americans shivered under their blankets.
Temperatures Friday night and early Saturday in traditional hot spots such as Shreveport, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi; Birmingham, Alabama; and Atlanta are set to dip into the low 20s or teens.
Of the 51 cold-related deaths since Jan. 12, 17 happened in Tennessee, nine in Oregon, six in Illinois, five in Washington state and Mississippi, three in New York state, two in Louisiana and one each in Arkansas, Wisconsin, Wyoming and New Hampshire, local and state officials have told NBC News.
All state offices in Tennessee were closed Friday because of the dangerous winter weather, officials said.
The Nashville Department of Transportation bluntly told Music City residents to stay home, saying Friday's icy road conditions are the worst yet of this weeklong cold snap.
A brutal Arctic cold is sweeping throughout the United States, with millions of Americans under wind chill warnings. The harsh weather is also creating slippery conditions on the roads, causing traffic delays in several areas.
According to the National Weather Service (NWS), the wind chills are expected to push temperatures down to 30 F below zero from the Northern Rockies to northern Kansas, all the way into Iowa.
Zack Taylor, a meteorologist with the NWS, has warned that at least 150 million Americans were under a wind chill warning or advisory for dangerous cold and wind.
Forecasters also said there is potential for major winter storm impacts across the Lower Mississippi Valley and Tennessee Valley with a combination of snow, sleet and freezing rainfall before reaching the Appalachians.
Additionally, the severe Arctic blast has caused massive travel delays.
FlightAware has reported there were a total of 5,335 flights within, into or out of the U.S. that were delayed, with 2,164 flights canceled as of 2:00 p.m. Monday, Jan. 15.
At least five people have died from weather-related causes amid the deadly Arctic blast. One man died while removing snow from a driveway in Franklin, Wisconsin, just outside Milwaukee, said a medical examiner.
Snowfall is predicted to hit cities all across the East Coast that are nearing 700 days without snow accumulation, such as Washington D.C, Philadelphia and New York.
AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Matt Benz said the mixed-precipitation zone is likely to stay to the south and east of Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, but there is also a chance that it may reach Philadelphia and Manhattan.
Experts have predicted a heavy lake effect snowfall for downwind of the Great Lakes through Wednesday, Jan. 17, while large amounts of snow accumulations are forecast across northern Michigan, western and Upstate New York, including Buffalo.
The Weather Channel warned that W?inter Storm Heather will "tap into fresh arctic air as it tracks across the South and East early this week, resulting in a wintry mess of snow and ice that could create dangerous travel conditions in some areas."
In Rapid City, South Dakota, a record-matching low temperature of minus 23 degrees was reported at the Rapid City Regional Airport. The last time minus 23 degrees was registered was in 1979, according to the NWS.
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