High winds, frigid temperatures and a lot of snow hit the East Coast overnight, and cities are scrambling to manage the impact. NBC's Ron Mott reports from Boston. 
 
 A massive winter storm dumped 20 inches of snow on parts of New England and looked set to cripple much of the Midwest and Northeast on Friday as millions faced dangerously cold temperatures. 
 
 Sub-zero wind chills arrived with the storm, and the biting wind and blowing snow have shut down interstates and airports alike. 
 
 John F. Kennedy Airport in New York was officially closed at 6:12 a.m. Friday and is not expected to re-open until 8:30 a.m., and Boston's Logan International is effectively shutdown, as well. 
 
 Interstate 84 in New York and the Long Island Expressway, closed at midnight as the storm roared in, remained so until 8 a.m. 
 
 Snowfall reports varied widely, with New York City receiving 7 inches, Baltimore some 3 to 6 inches, Philadelphia roughly 5 inches, Hartford 6 to 10 inches and Boston as much as 14 inches. 
 
 Some 20 inches have already fallen on other parts of Massachusetts, according to The Weather Channel lead meteorologist Michael Palmer. Boxford, Mass., northwest of Boston, reported 21 inches. 
 
 Schools across the Northeast, including all public schools in New York City, are closed Friday. 
 
 Winter weather and wind-chill advisories were in effect in at least 22 states, stretching from Chicago through the New York tri-state region into New England and affecting an area home to more than 100 million people. 
 
 NBC's Tom Costello provides a winter travel update, and reports that hundreds of flights have been canceled after a winter storm struck the East Coast. 
 
 The cold behind the snowstorm could be deadly, with parts of the Midwest expecting lows not seen since the mid-1980s, according to Palmer. 
 
 "It's going to be brutal," Weather Channel coordinating meteorologist Tom Moore said. "People that are vulnerable are really going to be hurting." 
 
 The high temperature in New York City will be in the teens on Friday during the day and drop to between 5 and 8 degrees in the evening, with the wind chill making it feel well below zero. 
 
 "This is nothing to be trifled with," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. "We have learned too well over the past few years the power of Mother Nature. We have seen the damage that has been done." 
 
 Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick dismissed all state workers at 3 p.m. on Thursday, and urged residents to minimize time outside and be aware of frostbite and hypothermia symptoms. "That is a very, very dangerous set of circumstances," he said. 
 
 Temperatures from upstate New York to Maine were below zero, and wind chills — the "feels like" effect — were minus-30 in some spots. 
 
 Across the Northeast, residents were fretting about the blast of bitter cold. 
 
 “I think I’m more concerned about the terrible cold Friday night rather than the storm itself," David Ball of Scituate, Mass., which was facing coastal flooding, told NBC affiliate WHDH. "Hopefully the power stays on." 
 
 The weather was affecting air travel, with some 1,600 flights being cancelled Friday on top of about 2,000 on Thursday, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. 
 
 Thirty planes sat on the tarmac at Chicago’s Midway International Airport on Thursday night, with hundreds of passengers forced to wait while the runways were cleared for takeoff, reported NBC Chicago. Some travelers said they sat inside idled planes for up to four hours. 
 
 NBC's Kristen Dahlgren reports from Long Island, NY, where a blizzard warning is still in effect and many public buildings have shut down. 
 
 “We arrived at 10 p.m. and its [sic] getting cold on the plane,” passenger Efraid Mata wrote in an email to NBC Chicago. 
 
 The delays and cancellations in the Midwest and Northeast created a logjam in the rest of the country’s flight schedules. Even in warm and sunny Southern California, dozens of flights at LAX in Los Angeles were put on hold or scrapped Thursday, with the same expected Friday. 
 
 The first brutal blast of cold shattered records in Minnesota on Thursday — and a second blast is expected to barrel from the Great Plains and Midwest on Sunday and Monday and into the East on Tuesday. 
 
 The second wave of icy weather will stretch from the upper Midwest to Kentucky and Tennessee, forecasters said. 
 
 Chicago will struggle to get above minus 8 and by Monday morning the wind will make it feel like it's 40 below zero there. 
 
 In Green Bay, Wis., where the Packers host an NFL playoff game Sunday evening, the low temperature could reach minus 18. 
 
 "Even Atlanta's northern suburbs could be in single digits by Monday night," Moore said. 
 
 Larry Wittmers, a hypothermia expert at the University of Minnesota-Duluth medical school, said it's not necessarily the coldest areas that face the most peril. 
 
 "True hypothermia cases turn up more often in more southern regions because people are not prepared and don't know what to do," Wittmers said. 
 
 How long people can safely spend outside depends on how wet or windy it is and how they are dressed, Wittmer said. Shoveling snow or other exercise can be dangerous because sweat reduces the insulation capability of clothing, and consuming alcohol can speed heat loss and reduce awareness of the cold. 
 
 And even though record snowfall is not expected, the cold could make roads even more hazardous because the snow-melting salt that homeowners and road crews use loses effectiveness at between 10 and 20 degrees. 
 
 To give plows time to work and guard against vehicles getting stranded, New York's Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency and closed several major roads. New Jersey also declared a state of emergency. 
 
 "As this winter storm unfolds, bringing heavy snow and high winds to many parts of the state, I strongly urge all New Yorkers to exercise caution, avoid travel and stay indoors," Cuomo said. 
 
 At the Pine Street Inn shelter in Boston, vice president Heidi Daniels was preparing for a packed house. 
 
 "We won't turn anybody away," she said. "We'll pull out cots and mats and make sure everybody has a warm place to stay tonight." 
 
 NBC News' Tracy Connor, Daniel Arkin and Ron Mott contributed to this story. 
 
 Related: 
 
 This story was originally published on ||||| As tornadoes ripped through the South, more than a foot of snow was dumped over parts of the Midwest, making for a post-Christmas travel nightmare. NBC's Mike Seidel reports. 
 
 A wicked winter storm was sweeping east across the United States Wednesday, creating a post-holiday travel nightmare with more than a foot of snow in some places and thousands of flights canceled or delayed. 
 
 "Blizzard warnings stretch for 730 continuous miles due to Winter Storm Euclid," The Weather Channel’s Tom Niziol reported. 
 
 The white-out came a day after a Christmas storm unleashed heavy snow, deadly winds and even some tornadoes on the nation’s midsection, killing at least three people. 
 
 As millions of Americans braced for snow, rain, ice or more twisters, nearly 2,000 flights had been canceled and 10,000 were delayed, many at Dallas/Fort Worth, Philadelphia International, and Cleveland's Hopkins International, according to the travel website FllightStats.com. American Airlines had to cancel 500 flights, while Delta scrapped 200. 
 
 Read more at The Weather Channel 
 
 The forecast called for heavy snow from Indiana to New York and by mid-afternoon it was piling up: The National Weather Service reported 14.5 inches in Marion, Ill.; 11.8 inches in Bloomfield, Ind.; 9 inches in Brookville, Ohio; 7 inches in Bardwell, Ky.; and Frostburg, Md. Up to 3 inches of rain had fallen in North and South Carolina. 
 
 The National Weather Service said Wednesday night that spotters had reported up to a foot of snow in some Pennsylvania counties. Forecasters predicted 10 to 12 inches of snow in western and central Massachusetts. 
 
 The system was expected to taper off into a mix of rain and snow closer to the coast, where little or no accumulation was expected in such cities as Philadelphia, Boston and New York. 
 
 The storm left freezing temperatures in its aftermath, and forecasters also said parts of the Southeast from Virginia to Florida would see severe thunderstorms. 
 
 After the storm socked little Albion, Ill., with 18 inches of snow, city worker Renee Galen’s SUV got stuck and she got to her office the only way she could. 
 
 On one of the busiest travel days of the year, bad weather has forced airlines to cancel or delay flights. NBC's Katy Tur reports. 
 
 "One of the city guys came by with a snowplow and I flagged him down and rode to work with him," Galen told NBC News. 
 
 "I had to get to work because today was the last day to file for city elections. Believe it or not, I’ve had three people come in to file." 
 
 In Indianapolis, seven inches of snow fell in three hours Wednesday morning, bringing post-Christmas shopping to a halt, the Indianapolis Star reported. 
 
 Stephen Canter, 44, ventured out before 8 a.m., and the roads were thick with snow when he headed back 30 minutes later. 
 
 "By the time I got home, the street was covered," he told the newspaper. "I don't remember snow like this since Valentine's Day of 2007." 
 
 Indiana State Police received 100 calls of crashes or cars sliding off roads before noon and warned motorists that if they got into trouble it could take a while to get them help, NBC affiliate WTHR.com reported. 
 
 Cars and several 18-wheelers were stuck in the ice along 1-70, and the snow fell faster than crews could clear the roads. 
 
 "The biggest problem is the blowing. We got some high winds and the roads are really beginning to drift bad," Ron Sharp with Wayne County Emergency Management told the station. 
 
 Parts of New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania are also forecast to get hit with more than a foot of snow, and New England could get up to a foot. 
 
 The blizzard warning in Ohio prompted United Airlines to cancel at least 60 percent of their flights at Cleveland Hopkins Airport beginning at noon on Wednesday, according to NBC affiliate WKYC.com. About 1,000 people spent the night on cots at Dallas/Fort Worth after their Tuesday night and Wednesday morning flights were scrapped. 
 
 Hundreds of flights delayed, canceled as holiday storms travel across country 
 
 With Rochester, N.Y., slated to get up to a foot of snow, hordes of worried residents descended on the hardware stores. 
 
 “Un-freaking-believable! We’ve sold 225 shovels since 9 o’clock this morning,” said Tom Green, owner of Mayer Paint and Hardware. “Rock salt – I couldn’t tell you how many thousands of pounds I’ve sold today. People are very concerned.” 
 
 Green noted that snowstorms are hardly rare in Rochester. 
 
 “But this is the first big one,” he said. “And it’s happening at Christmas.” 
 
 The weather system, which started over the weekend, wreaked havoc on Christmas. It knocked out power to tens of thousands of people and was blamed for at least five deaths. 
 
 In Enola, Ark., two toddlers were killed when a car lost control on an ice-slicked highway and spun into oncoming traffic, state police said. 
 
 Wind-toppled trees killed a pickup truck driver near Houston, Texas, and a 53-year-old man in north Louisiana. NBC affiliate KJRH reported that a 28-year-old woman was killed in a crash on a snowy highway near Fairview, Okla. 
 
 Christmas Day tornadoes –- the preliminary count was at least 21, according to the Weather Channel -- battered Southern states. And Little Rock, Ark., didn’t just have a rare white Christmas –- it had its snowiest day ever, with nine inches on the ground. 
 
 The storms contributed to a 21-vehicle pile-up Tuesday that shut down a major highway in Oklahoma City, as well as tens of thousands of power outages. Emergency service provider MedStar told NBCDFW.com it responded to 71 crashes in the Fort Worth area between 5 p.m. and 9:50 p.m. Tuesday evening. 
 
 As it tracked east, authorities were taking the storm seriously. 
 
 In Indianapolis, Mayor Greg Ballard ordered "non-essential" workers to stay home and off roads. Cleveland asked businesses to send workers home by 1:30 p.m., NBC affiliate WKYC.com reported. Homeowners in coastal Long Island, ravaged by Superstorm Sandy in October, were told to take precautions to prevent flooding with seas expected to peak at 15 feet, NBCNewYork.com reported. 
 
 By the time it leaves the New England coast Friday, the storm will have left snow from coast to coast –- and there could be another wallop coming soon. 
 
 Weather Channel meteorologist Guy Walton said a weather pattern with the potential to become Winter Storm Freyr is poised to enter the West Coast on Wednesday and move through the Rockies on Thursday. It could then head for the lower Mississippi Valley, then the Southeast and hit the Northeast on Sunday. 
 
 Read more at weather.com 
 
 The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 
 
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 Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook ||||| BOSTON (AP) — A blustering winter storm that dropped nearly 2 feet of snow just north of Boston, shut down major highways in New York and Pennsylvania and forced U.S. airlines to cancel thousands of flights nationwide menaced the Northeast on Friday with howling winds and frigid temperatures. 
 
 Snow accumulates on an NYPD officer in Times Square, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014, in New York. The snow storm is expected to bring snow, stiff winds and punishing cold into the Northeast. (AP Photo/John Minchillo) (Associated Press) 
 
 Pedestrians cross 34th Street and 6th Avenue under falling snow in Herald Square, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014, in New York. The storm is expected to bring snow, stiff winds and punishing cold into the Northeast.... (Associated Press) 
 
 Taxis drive across the Brooklyn Bridge during a winter storm in New York, late Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014. The storm is expected to bring snow, stiff winds and punishing cold into the Northeast. (AP Photo/Karly... (Associated Press) 
 
 Trucks plow a road at Willowbrook Mall, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014, in Wayne, N.J. Snow and bone-chilling temperatures are expected for the overnight hours with substantial accumulation predicted. (AP Photo/Julio... (Associated Press) 
 
 A sidewalk snow plow clears the intersection of Market Street and North Washington Street, Thursday Jan. 2, 2014 in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. as the snow continues to fall. (AP Photo Citizens' Voice, Andrew Krech)... (Associated Press) 
 
 Vehicles commute on Route 46 as snow accumulates on the road, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014, in Wayne, N.J. Snow and bone-chilling temperatures are expected for the overnight hours with substantial accumulation... (Associated Press) 
 
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 A vehicle rides on an overpass over Route 46 as snow accumulates on the road, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014, in Wayne, N.J. Snow and bone-chilling temperatures are expected for the overnight hours with warnings... (Associated Press) 
 
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 David Paluch brushes off snow from his truck in front of his home in Barrington, Ill., Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014. The New Year's Day snow storm stretched into Thursday for parts of Illinois, bringing double-digit... (Associated Press) 
 
 Kevin Pokorny works on his third house clearing snow for neighbors in Barrington, Ill., Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014. The New Year's Day snow storm stretched into Thursday for parts of Illinois, bringing double-digit... (Associated Press) 
 
 Highway crews work to clear snow from roads on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014, in Henniker, N.H. About 6 to 10 inches of snow is expected in the southern half of New Hampshire, and up to a foot in the Seacoast... (Associated Press) 
 
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 A worker at the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation facility makes preparations for an expected winter storm, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) (Associated Press) 
 
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 A pedestrian walks in the snow on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014, in Albany, N.Y. Up to 5 inches of snow had fallen in eastern New York early Thursday, but the National Weather Service said some areas from Buffalo... (Associated Press) 
 
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 Children make a snow pile in Times Square, during a snowstorm, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014, in New York. The storm is expected to bring snow, stiff winds and punishing cold into the Northeast. (AP Photo/John... (Associated Press) 
 
 Two people dressed as Disney characters talk under falling snow in Times Square, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014, in New York. The storm is expected to bring snow, stiff winds and punishing cold into the Northeast.... (Associated Press) 
 
 A pedestrian takes a photograph under falling snow in Times Square, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014, in New York. The storm is expected to bring snow, stiff winds and punishing cold into the Northeast. (AP Photo/John... (Associated Press) 
 
 Workers clean snow from the steps of TKTS Times Square ticket booth, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014, in New York. The storm is expected to bring snow, stiff winds and punishing cold into the Northeast. (AP Photo/John... (Associated Press) 
 
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 A person brushes snow off a vehicle in the parking lot of Willowbrook Mall, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014, in Wayne, N.J. Snow and bone-chilling temperatures are expected for the overnight hours with substantial... (Associated Press) 
 
 A person brushes snow off a vehicle in the parking lot of Willowbrook Mall, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014, in Wayne, N.J. Snow and bone-chilling temperatures are expected for the overnight hours with substantial... (Associated Press) 
 
 Snow falls in the Cultural District of downtown Pittsburgh during evening rush hour on Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014. A storm expected to bring more than a foot of snow, stiff winds and punishing cold pushed... (Associated Press) 
 
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 The brutal weather — which brought plummeting temperatures to some areas that forecasters predicted could see highs just above zero and wind chill readings of minus 10 degrees and colder by early Friday — dumped 21 inches of snow in Boxford, Mass., by late Thursday and 18 inches in parts of western New York near Rochester. Up to 7 inches fell in New York City by Friday morning. 
 
 The snowfall, frigid cold and stiff winds extended the holiday break for some students for a second day while posing the first test for New York City's new mayor and perhaps the last challenge for Boston's outgoing one. 
 
 U.S. airlines canceled more than 2,300 flights because of the snowfall and low visibility. 
 
 "It's been a tough road," traveler Heather Krochuk, of Toronto, Canada, said inside a Boston hotel Thursday night after her flight home out of Logan International Airport got canceled in what's turned into a 36-hour trip from Seattle, where she spent Christmas with her husband, Ron. 
 
 But, she said, "we have a place to sleep that isn't the airport." 
 
 Snow began falling overnight Wednesday in parts of New England and New York state, but the brunt of the storm began late Thursday. The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for Cape Cod, coastal areas north and south of Boston and part of Maine as well as New York's Long Island. 
 
 Forecasters warned that gusts of up to 30 miles per hour could bring wind chills to minus 25 degrees, cold enough to cause frostbite in about 30 minutes or less. The weather service said people should dress warmly to avoid hypothermia and cover all exposed skin. 
 
 Governors in New York and New Jersey declared states of emergency, urging residents to stay home. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said state offices that closed early Thursday would remain closed Friday. He said National Guard members and state police were on standby for any high tide flooding in vulnerable coastal areas, but no mandatory evacuations had been ordered. 
 
 New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered three major highways in his state, stretching from Long Island to Albany, closed overnight. The Thruway between Albany and the Bronx reopened for passenger vehicles at 5 a.m. Friday and was scheduled to reopen to commercial vehicles at 8 a.m. The Long Island Expressway and Interstate 84 between the Pennsylvania and Connecticut borders were scheduled to reopen at 8 a.m. Southbound Interstate 95 closed in Philadelphia because of a jackknifed tractor-trailer. 
 
 As of late Thursday in Connecticut, about 3 inches of snow had fallen in Hartford County, and 3 inches were reported in East Hartford and Simsbury. Parts of New Hampshire had 5.5 inches, and areas of Rhode Island had more than 2. 
 
 Outreach teams looked to get homeless people off the frigid streets of New York City and Boston. 
 
 Staff members at the Pine Street Inn were keeping the Boston shelter open 24 hours and said they would turn no one away, even if it meant setting up extra cots in lobbies and other common areas. 
 
 The heavy weather began rolling in just a day after New York Mayor Bill de Blasio was sworn in to lead the nation's largest city and a few days before Boston Mayor Thomas Menino ends 20 years in office on Monday. 
 
 De Blasio, who as public advocate in 2010 criticized his predecessor Mayor Michael Bloomberg for his handling of a large snowstorm, dispatched hundreds of plows and salt spreaders on the streets as soon as the snow started falling Thursday night. Forecasters said that while only 5 inches of snow had fallen in Central Park by early Friday, up to 8 inches were still expected in the city. 
 
 "If you don't need to go out, please don't go out," de Blasio said at a news conference Thursday evening, urging residents to use mass transit. "Stay off the streets, stay out of your cars." 
 
 Across the region, state and local police were busy responding to accidents and reports of stranded vehicles. 
 
 Amtrak planned to run trains on all of its Northeast lines on Friday but operate on a modified schedule, spokeswoman Christina Leeds said. Metro-North Railroad, which runs trains between New York City and suburban Connecticut, Long Island and New York's Hudson Valley, was operating on a Saturday schedule, meaning about 60 percent of its typical weekday trains were running. 
 
 As the storm approached, a worker at a suburban Philadelphia salt storage facility was killed when a 100-foot-tall pile of road salt fell and crushed him. Falls Township police said the man was trapped while operating a backhoe. There was no word on what may have caused the accident. 
 
 Douglass Bibule shopped for rock salt and other supplies at a home improvement store in Watertown, N.Y. 
 
 "Well, there will be some shoveling that I will have to do and some sanding," he said. "I've got to go home and do some stretching exercises to make sure I don't hurt myself while doing that, and do a little shopping to make sure that we have all the supplies that we need. We need food because we have three older children at home." 
 
 The snowstorm worked its way east from the Midwest, where it dropped up to a foot of snow on Michigan and more than a foot in parts of Illinois, prompting the cancellation Thursday of hundreds of flights at both Chicago airports. 
 
 Nearly 17 inches of snow fell in some of Chicago's northern suburbs, and more than 12 inches of snow was recorded at Midway International Airport. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers John Christoffersen in New Haven, Conn., Wilson Ring in Montpelier, Vt., Holly Ramer in Concord, N.H., Jim Fitzgerald and Jonathan Lemire in New York City, David Sharp in Portland, Maine, Bruce Shipkowski in Toms River, N.J., and Jackie Quinn in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.
– Winter storm Hercules continues to flex its muscles, dumping well over a foot of snow in places, sparking states of emergency, and bringing with it freezing temperatures and the threat of hypothermia. Experts warn that even shoveling your driveway can be dangerous. The latest: It seems the warning of up to a foot of snow might have been wishful thinking for some: Nearly two feet fell in some areas, including 21 inches in Boxford, Mass. (that's about 30 miles north of Boston), and 18 inches near both Gurnee, Ill., and Rochester, NY, as of early this morning, Weather Underground and the AP report. NBC News notes winter weather and wind chill warnings have been in effect in at least 22 states, affecting more than 100 million people from Chicago through the New York tri-state area into New England. Both New York and New Jersey have declared states of emergency. Along with the 2,000 flights cancelled yesterday, another 1,350 have been grounded today, according to NBC News. JFK Airport this morning suspended flights because of zero visibility; Boston's Logan is effectively non-operational as well. A meteorologist told NBC that some areas in the Midwest could see chilling temperatures not recorded since the mid-1980s. "People that are vulnerable are really going to be hurting," added one. The cold could be bad news for road crews and homeowners: Snow-melting salt stops working between 10 and 20 degrees. And a second icy wave is coming, expected to hit the Midwest on Sunday and Monday then move east. It's going to be seriously cold, with an expected high in Chicago on Monday of -8. Plenty of kids are getting an extended holiday today, with schools, including all public schools in Boston and New York City, closed throughout the region. But Pennsylvania saw a storm-related tragedy: A salt yard worker prepping for the storm was killed when a 100-foot pile of rock salt buried him.