Residents across the country from the Northern Plains to the tip of Maine are bracing for dangerously low temperatures as residents along the East Coast contend with a thick blanket of snow — and more snowfall in the forecast.

Frigid temperatures engulfed the South on Monday ahead of a winter storm that's expected to spread heavy snow and disruptive ice around a region from Texas to north Florida that rarely sees such weather,

A polar vortex is slated to sweep most of the continental US bringing winter storm warnings and a hazardous freeze to millions.