NEW YORK -- Winter is still 12 days away, but you'll need a shovel to find any signs of autumn in the east. Millions of people from Washington, D.C., to New York and Boston are digging out from the season's first snowstorm.

Coastal areas could get well over half a foot. This is the same storm that buried the Deep South on Friday -- and it's leaving much of the South in a deep freeze tonight.

Much of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic is being blanketed by the season's first snow.

"It's nice to come out to Central Park and see the snow -- the first snow of the season," one New Yorker said.

The first major snowstorm of the season hit from Texas through the Northeast. CBS News

Tailgaters braved the elements outside the Army-Navy game in Philadelphia.

New York City tried to get ahead of the storm, with 693 salt trucks working since this morning.

New York City prepared for the snow with 693 salt trucks on the road. CBS News

Air travel is also suffering. Over 3,800 flights have been delayed and over 800 canceled. More than 400 of them were in or out of Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport.

The unusual storm made fall in the Deep South look like winter in the Rockies. Ten inches of snow hit parts of Alabama. There was a rare dusting in New Orleans and a snowman in Baton Rouge.

"Most folks in south Louisiana aren't used to driving on ice," said emergency preparedness director Clay Rieves. "I don't think that anyone could ever do it very well."

Downed power lines in the South after the first major snowstorm of the season. CBS News

911 operators in Georgia dealt with 100 car crashes at once. In Atlanta, a man was electrocuted by a downed power line.

"'Stop! Don't go near there! It's a live wire down.' And he didn't hear me," said one witness.

Across the South, power remains out for more than 380,000 customers. For some, it might not be back for days.

Kids made a snowman after rare snow in Baton Rogue. CBS News

Up to half a foot of snow is expected in New York City, and folks in Central Park don't seem to mind. By the time the storm crosses into Canada on Sunday, it will have dumped snow along a more-than 2,000-mile path that started at the Texas/Mexico border.