More than 220 million people across the United States are facing dangerous cold that will also open the door for a potentially historic and crippling winter storm that could deliver snow as far south as Florida and the Gulf of Mexico.

A major storm spread heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain across the southern United States on Wednesday, breaking snow records and treating the region to unaccustomed perils and wintertime joy.

With snow, sleet and freezing rain expected across North Carolina, a public outdoor inauguration ceremony Saturday in Raleigh, North Carolina, for Governor Josh Stein and other elected officials was canceled. The storm's trajectory overlapped with much of the western North Carolina area impacted by Hurricane Helene last year.

Another massive winter storm is forecast to pummel the southern and eastern U.S., with impacts from Texas to the Carolinas.

Donald Trump took the presidential oath of office for the second time Monday during an inauguration ceremony inside the U.S. Capitol rotunda.

Travelers heading to some of the nation's busiest airports in the next two days should expect delays and canceled flights.

The AccuWeather forecast map, shared with Newsweek, showed that states from the Central and Southern U.S. to the East Coast can expect to see snowfall through Friday night. The states in the forecast include Tennessee, West Virginia, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

A major winter storm is expected to slam portions of the central, southern and eastern United States this week ... through the Lower Mississippi Valley, Tennessee Valley, and Southern Appalachians.

Several states across the U.S. are under alert as the new storm system approaches. Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Missouri have severe weather alerts in effect through Friday, January 10. Meanwhile, Tennessee, northern Alabama, and parts of Indiana and Kentucky will remain under warnings through Saturday.

Parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas began to see snowfall on Thursday as Southern states stretching to the Carolinas brace for the storm to reach them on Friday.

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