'So Cold It's Burning my Face': Autumn Arctic Blast Grips US with Snow, Ice, Record Lows

It's an early start to winter as a powerful blast of snow, ice and bitter cold blankets half the nation. Freezing air is dipping way down across the US, including here in Virginia Beach, VA, and even further into the deep South.

Winter is still technically a whole month away, but this autumn arctic blast is slamming some areas with temperatures near zero.

The wind chill Wednesday is forecast to reach 6 degrees in Boston, 13 degrees in New York City, 23 degrees in Atlanta and 10 degrees in Indianapolis. 

From Monday afternoon to Tuesday afternoon, temperatures dropped dramatically.

In Atlanta, temps fell from 67 to 39 degrees. In New York City, 61 to 33. And in Raleigh, NC, from 69 to 38 degrees. 

Chicago is approaching record-low numbers for this time of year. 

"It's so cold that it's burning my face," said Lattea Scates.

Snow and whiteout conditions are wreaking havoc on the roads.

In Ohio, a 50-car pileup on Interstate 80 involved semi-trucks and several other vehicles.  

Snow delayed or grounded hundreds of flights across the country.

And now, rain and arctic air are invading the East Coast with more on the way later this week.

The Siberian cold snap isn't the only severe weather hitting the country.

"There's going to be a pretty fierce storm developing just off-shore called these hybrid storms," Joe Bastardi of WeatherBell.com told CBN News. "They're not tropical in nature but they feed back and acquire very strong winds - so you folks from Georgia to Carolina to Southeast Virginia, this is going to be a pretty interesting weekend coming up with that."       
 
Meanwhile, forecasters say some relief is on the way as temperatures are expected to warm up next week.