With blizzard warnings in effect, cities like New York and Boston bore the brunt of the storm Saturday morning, but the far-reaching system also hit the Mid-Atlantic.
Freeze alerts were raised as far south as Florida, where the National Weather Service (NWS) warned of "scattered to isolated falling iguanas from trees" as plunging temperatures temporarily paralyzed the large lizards, which can weigh up to 20 pounds (nine kilograms).
Salt machines and snowplows crawled along the streets of New York, where as much as four inches (10 centimeters) of snow had fallen by Saturday morning, AFP reported.
Mayor Eric Adams had tweeted Friday that a foot (30 centimeters) of snow was predicted, and warned that "Mother Nature has a tendency to do what she wants."
The governors of New York and New Jersey declared a state of emergency, while Boston Mayor Michelle Wu declared a snow emergency.
"It is going to get quite ugly out there," she said in an early-morning television interview from City Hall.
"This is going to be a historic storm."
Massachusetts residents had rushed Friday to buy groceries, as well as snow- and ice-melting pellets to help keep their sidewalks and driveways clear.
By early Saturday morning, Boston Public Works said 500 snow plows were already hard at work on the city streets.
MA/PR