'Extreme cold': Winter storm forecast to slam huge expanse of US

Winter Storm Fern is forecast to engulf an area stretching from Texas and the Great Plains region to the mid-Atlantic and northeastern states. Forecasters warned it could be 2,000 miles (3,219 kilometers) long -- well over half the length of the continental US.

The storm's peak is expected to come Thursday and Friday, with Texas already having declared an emergency.

More than a foot of snow could be seen across the mid-Atlantic region, the forecasters warned, with Virginia and Maryland likely to bear the brunt as arctic air blows in.

US weather channels were running apocalyptic predictions of "crippling ice," and a 1,500-mile (2,414-kilometer) "snow zone" liable to see record-breaking snowfall, while warning that freezing rain could damage power infrastructure and trees.

New York City, the US financial capital and the country's most populous urban area, could see as much as 12 inches of snow, the Weather Channel warned.

In New York, the current cold snap has caused temperatures to collapse. On the morning of January 20, the National Weather Service's observatory in Central Park recorded a temperature of 16F (-9C) -- or 2F (-17C) accounting for wind chill -- the coldest temperature that the city has seen so far this winter.
'Sub-zero'
"Frigid temperatures will expand across the eastern two-thirds of the country behind an Arctic cold front," the National Weather Service said in an advisory.

"Frigid sub-zero and single digit temperatures will expand from the Northern Plains Thursday into the Mid-Mississippi Valley, Ohio Valley and Northeast by Sunday.

"This Arctic blast will be accompanied by gusty winds, leading to dangerous wind chills. The coldest wind chills may fall below minus 50 Fahrenheit (minus 46C) across the Northern Plains.

An extremely cold air mass, combined with a frontal zone to its south will produce a major winter storm from the Central-Southern Plains region to the East Coast starting Friday and lasting into the weekend, the advisory added.

Some areas likely to be affected were bracing for the arrival of severe weather.

In Texas, Governor Greg Abbott on Tuesday declared a state of emergency and activated emergency resources including the state's national guard and transport department assets to help ease the pressure on roads.

A combination of snow, rain and sleet could make travel almost impossible, local media warned.

The Monroe County Road Commission, which covers a large area outside Detroit, Michigan, warned "there is a shortage of salt."

"This year we've used more than we have the last four Decembers combined," David Leach, the commission's managing director, told CBS News.

In past years, rural areas in the northeast have been entirely cut off as snowplows struggled to clear roads.