A dramatic cold front swept across the central United States, leaving residents to face Monday morning temperatures up to 28 degrees cooler than the previous day.

“This system is quite significant, even for this region,” noted Cody Snell, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center, commenting on the intense winds and snowfall.

In some areas of North Dakota and Minnesota, the wind chill plummeted to a dangerous minus 34 degrees, highlighting the severity of the weather conditions.

The National Weather Service had issued warnings over the weekend, cautioning about potential whiteout conditions that could render travel nearly impossible in certain areas.

Although the blizzard conditions in Iowa had diminished by Monday morning, strong winds continued to blow snow onto roads, resulting in the closure of more than 320 kilometers of Interstate 35.

State troopers reported dozens of crashes during the storm, including one that killed a person.

Nationwide, about 350,000 customers were without power on Monday afternoon, more than a third of them in Michigan, according to Poweroutage.us.

Airports reported over 6000 flight delays and around 775 cancellations within the United States.

Snow piled up quickly in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where as much as 0.6 metres fell in some areas, according to the National Weather Service. 

Meteorologist Ryan Metzger said additional snow was expected in the coming days, although totals would be far lighter.

Waves on Lake Superior were expected to reach six metres on Monday, sending all but one cargo ship into harbors for shelter, according to MarineTraffic.com.

Weather forecasting on the lakes has improved greatly since the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in 1975 after waves were predicted at up to five metres.

The National Weather Service said lake levels had risen to just below 2.4 metres, with the potential to reach 2.7 metres more by late on Monday, due to the strong southwest wind flow, and predicted “significant lakeshore flooding” along the Lake Erie shoreline of Erie and Chautauqua counties as well as along the upper Niagara River.

Rain and a wintry mix fell farther east across parts of the northeast.

Freezing rain was reported in northern New York, with the threat extending into Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

Forecasters warned the ice and wind could strain power lines and trees.

More than 57,000 power outages were reported across upstate New York on Monday afternoon, utility officials said.

Heavy lake-effect snow and possible whiteouts were forecast on Tuesday for the northwestern part of the state, the National Weather Service said.

Two more storms were forecast later this week, with rain on New Year’s Day potentially soaking the Rose Parade in Pasadena for the first time in about two decades.

A weekend snowstorm hit Alaska’s northern panhandle with 38 to 102 centimetres, according to the National Weather Service, keeping the region under a winter storm warning on Monday as Juneau braced for up to 23 centimetres and possible freezing rain.

City facilities were closed and road crews piled snow into towering berms, while communities farther south faced flood watches from snowmelt and heavy rain.

And in central Illinois, an EF1 tornado with peak winds of 158km/h damaged buildings and snapped power poles on Sunday.