Four people died during a storm that dumped over a metre of snow around Buffalo and forced motorists in 150 vehicles, including a women's basketball team, to ride it out on a day when temperatures dropped to freezing or below in all 50 states.
One person was killed in an automobile accident and three others had heart attacks, including two believed to be shovelling snow at the time, Erie County officials said.
The same storm system is hammering parts of southern and northwestern Ontario, dumping heavy snow and creating blizzard-like conditions as it sweeps to the east.
Environment Canada warns some regions could expect as much as 25 centimetres of snow to fall by Wednesday. Residents are advised to expect winds of up to 80 km/h and near zero visibility. Motorists are advised to avoid non-essential travel until conditions improve.
In Buffalo, the snowstorm stranded cars, trucks and buses on a six-kilometre stretch. By late Tuesday night, many — but not all — had been freed.
Some motorists had had been trapped for nearly 24 hours. Officials said freeing the vehicles was delayed after two tractor-trailers jack-knifed as they were being moved.
"It seemed like a nightmare. It just didn't feel like it was going to end," Bryce Foreback, 23, of Shicora, Pennsylvania told The Associated Press by cellphone 20 hours into his wait for help. "I haven't slept in like 30 hours and I'm just waiting to get out of here."
Members of the Niagara University women's basketball team were napping on and off 17 hours into their wait. Some got so thirsty they drank melted snow, said Coach Kendra Faustin, who was travelling with her one-year-old.
Team spokeswoman Chelsea Andorka said the bus, with about 25 players and coaches aboard, was headed back from a loss in Pittsburgh when it came to a halt at 2 a.m. Tuesday.
"We were told the National Guard was coming by but haven't seen any signs of life," Andorka said. "The first time they came they told us to be prepared to stay for a while. One tow truck passed six or seven hours ago."
In a region accustomed to highway-choking snowstorms, this one is being called one of the worst in memory. Snow blown by strong winds forced the closing of a 212-kilometres stretch of the Thruway, the main highway across New York state.
Meteorologists say temperatures in all 50 states fell to freezing or below on Tuesday. They say the low temperatures were more reminiscent of January than November.
In New Hampshire and elsewhere, icy roads led to accidents. Lake-effect storms in Michigan produced gale-force winds and as much as 45 centimetres of snow, and cancelled several flights at the Grand Rapids airport.
Schools closed in the North Carolina mountains amid blustery winds and ice-coated roads. In Indiana, three firefighters were hurt when a semitrailer hit a fire truck on a snowy highway.
Omer Odovsc walks in front of his tractor trailer that got stuck on the 219 off ramp leading to Rt. 391 in Boston, N.Y., on Tuesday. (Henry Scull Jr./The Buffalo News/The Associated Press)
In Atlanta, tourists Morten and Annette Larsen from Copenhagen were caught off-guard by the below freezing weather as they took photos of a monument to the 1996 summer Olympics at Centennial Olympic Park.
"It's as cold here as it is in Denmark right now. We didn't expect that," Larsen said, waving a hand over his denim jacket, buttoned tightly over a hooded sweatshirt.
In Buffalo, Brian Krzeminski watched the snow pile up outside the south Buffalo convenience store where he worked overnight and served free coffee to the motorists and pedestrians who came in off the city streets to get out of the blinding snow.
"There are people that came out to get a few things. We had some people who came in just to get a 30-pack of beer, which is kind of odd," he said. "We've had EMTs whose ambulance got stuck. I'm constantly seeing cars get stuck."
The National Weather Service warned that the snow, generated by cold air blowing over the warmer Great Lakes, would continue through Wednesday and could eventually total six feet in places. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo deployed 150 member of the National Guard to help clear snow-clogged roads and remove abandoned vehicles.
"We have tried to get out of our house and we are lucky to be able to shovel so we can open the door. Basically, that's it, open the door," said Linda Oakley of Buffalo. "We're just thinking that in case of an emergency we can at least get out the door. We can't go any further."
"All around us, it's a solid four feet of snow that is so thick and so heavy you can hardly move it with a shovel," said Oakley, whose son Todd was with her, unable to make it to work just three miles away.
A lake-effect snow storm with freezing temperatures produces a wall of snow travelling over Lake Erie into Buffalo on Tuesday. A whirlpool of frigid, dense air known as a "polar vortex" descended Tuesday into much of the Northeastern U.S. (Gary Wiepert/Reuters)
Jim Lehmann was hunkering down with his wife in their town of Hamburg home, while outside his neighbour's house was barely visible through the blowing snow.
"The main thing to do now is sit in the house and wait it out," Lehmann said. "My neighbour works for a satellite dish company and he tried to get out this morning and he got stuck about 80 feet down the street. And he was there for three hours."
The town of West Seneca recorded 114 centimetres by late morning and Alden, to the east, had 120 centimetres. But typical of lake-effect snow, areas just a few kilometres away, including downtown and north Buffalo, had just a couple of inches.
At one point, nearly half of West Seneca's plows were bogged down in heavy snow, officials told The Buffalo News. In neighbouring Orchard Park, the highway superintendent called the rate of snowfall "unbelievable," while next door in Hamburg police cars were getting stuck.
Oakley and her son, Todd, were passing the time watching Netflix.
"We can't even walk down to the end of the street and get ourselves a pizza," she said, laughing. "Maybe if you had snow shoes, I don't know."
