Footprints are seen as pedestrians walk along a snow-covered street during snowfall in central Seoul
AFP

The central and southern states in the U.S. are bracing for freezing temperatures, which is expected to affect more than 60 million people. Bone-chilling weather conditions due to a mix of heavy snow, ice and wind have prompted many government offices, as well as schools to close in the East Coast early Monday.

Major roads were blanketed with snow and ice, causing a major travel concern for those who are on the road.

Snow is expected to accumulate up to 8 inches (approximately 20 centimeters). Not only that, the strong gusts of wind that are up to 45mph (72kph) making matters worse, Associated Press reported.

Meanwhile, the National Weather Service (NWS) expects a mix of rain and higher elevation snow to impact parts of the western U.S. over the next 48 hours with temperatures trending colder on Tuesday.

A major winter storm will move eastward from the Central Plains into the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic region tonight, bringing areas of snow, sleet, freezing rain and gusty winds along its path.

"Gusty winds, locally exceeding 40 mph, will create blizzard conditions from Kansas into
northwestern Missouri through this evening, with conditions improving from west to east overnight tonight. Areas of heavy snow will spread eastward through the Ohio Valley and central Appalachians tonight, reaching the northern Mid-Atlantic by Monday morning," NWS bulletin noted.

Total snowfall accumulations of 6 to 12 inches are expected from southern Ohio to the D.C. metropolitan area. South of the snow will be a mixture of sleet and freezing rain with damaging ice accumulations which are expected to exceed 0.25 inches for northern Kentucky and portions of southern West Virginia.

Lighter, but still hazardous ice accumulations generally between 0.10 and 0.25 inches are expected along and east of the Blue Ridge Mountains into western North Carolina and central/southern Virginia, the agency added.

In addition, severe thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes and damaging straight line winds will move east from Arkansas and Louisiana into Mississippi and Alabama. The
threat for severe thunderstorms is expected to increase for portions of southern Georgia and northern Florida on Monday, though the threat is expected to be lower versus the Lower Mississippi Valley.

The eastern storm system will exit quickly into the western Atlantic Monday night with lingering snow showers downwind of the Great Lakes and into the favored upslope regions of the central/northern Appalachians.

Central and eastern U.S. set to face the eastern storm system resulting in high temperature departures of roughly 10 to 20 degrees below average for large portions of the Great Plains to the East Coast on Monday and Tuesday.

Across the western U.S., a pair of relatively weak disturbances aloft will bring a mixture of lower elevation rain and mountain snow from the Pacific Northwest to the northern and central Rockies. Rain/snow totals are expected to remain fairly light for the West and temperatures will be 5 to
15 degrees above average west of the Continental Divide on Monday.

Colder air filtering in from the north will cool temperatures closer to average on Tuesday for much of the western third of the nation.

The National Guard is already activated in Indiana to provide assistance to stranded motorists due to the nasty road conditions.

Fox News noted that the cold weather advisory of the NWS would mean having very cold temperatures with wind chills between 6 and 11 degrees above zero. It is highly advised that individuals must dress in layers and pets must be brought inside. Covering for sensitive plants would be prudent as well.

The ultra cold air' polar vertex normally spins around the North Pole. Whenever the vortex escapes, it leads to those in U.S., Europe, and Asia to experience intense cold.

Due to the cold weather, a number of districts in Indiana, Virgina, and Kentucky already canceled classes on Sunday afternoon. Come Monday, most schools will be closed.

The Kentucky Jefferson County Public Schools have canceled its classes for its almost 100,000 students including activities for its athletics and other extracurricular endeavors.

Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland on Sunday declared a state of emergency, cancelling classes in the area for Monday.

In Missouri, there were at least 600 motorists who got stranded on the road. On the other hand, so many car accidents were reported to have occurred in Virginia, Indiana, Kansas and Kentucky.

Like Moore, Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky also declared a state of emergency.

"We see far too many wrecks out there for people that do not have to be on the roads, so I want to ask: Stay inside," Beshear noted.