An arctic blast bringing snow, ice and bone-chilling temperatures to tens of millions of people across the United States this week has already proved fatal.

At least four people died Monday in the Midwest as a surge of Arctic air moved east to the Gulf and East coasts. Authorities in Michigan and Kansas attributed the deaths to poor road conditions.

The National Weather Service said it expected temperatures to plunge Wednesday.

"This will make it feel like in the middle of winter rather than in November for much of the eastern two-thirds of the country for the next few days," it said.

In Kansas, a child was killed in a head-on car crash south of Kansas City on Monday morning when the driver of a pickup lost control on an icy highwayand crossed the center line. The truck hit an SUV, killing a girl, 8, and injuring three other people.

In Michigan, authorities said three people were killed in a two-car crash outside Lansing on Monday morning.

The victims included a man, 57, and two women, 64 and 81, the Eaton County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

In Chicago, record temperatures were recorded for November when the mercury dropped to 7 degrees, as snow and ice grounded air traffic. More than 2,000 incoming and outgoing flights at O'Hare International Airport had been delayed or canceled as of Monday night, according to the tracking site Flight Aware, as delays continued Tuesday morning.

The average incoming delay was just over six hours, while outgoing flights were behind by more than 16 hours Monday night,