Deadly cold weather spreads across eastern U.S.

CHICAGO, Ill. (NBC) – According to the calendar, it’s fall. But across much of the country, it feels like winter.

Snow, ice and frosty temperatures have plagued the Midwest, the Northeast and the Deep South.

All across the Heartland, daylight means digging out. Overnight, parts of the country from Michigan to New York, in Ohio and into West Virginia, were blanketed in snow.

The weather was blamed in at least four deaths Monday in the Midwest.

In Chicago, the cold is breaking records a second day in a row, just seven degrees Tuesday morning at O’Hare. “Fall didn’t really happen this year,” Chicago resident Nick Bergeland said. “We went straight to winter.”

That frigid air is creeping across the country. Sub-freezing low temps are forecasted in parts of the lower 48 states for Wednesday morning.

The deep freeze is sinking into the Deep South. In Dallas, there were icicles. And at Mississippi State University wind-chills were in the teens.

The rain, ice and snow makes for slick roadways and treacherous travel.

The bitter cold is without many fans as “winter” makes its early debut.