Bone-chilling Arctic air gripped much of the eastern United States on Saturday, while lake-effect snow threatened to leave some areas “paralyzed” and disrupt post-holiday travel in parts of the Great Lakes region,

From Minnesota to Texas, temperatures were expected to drop by double-digits as cold air swept over the record-warm Great Lakes, bringing the season's first lake effect snowfall. Common in the winter in this region of the US and Canada, lake effect snow occurs when very cold air moves across the relatively warm water of the lakes.

States braced for more whiteout conditions in the coming days as a lake-effect storm dropped several feet of snow in parts of the region by the early weekend.