
Winter has taken the northern United States by storm this weekend – quite literally – with 'life threatening cold' hitting the North Dakota area and snow and ice complicating holiday travel in the Midwest and Northeast.

The arctic air that has chilled large swaths of the northern United States for days will culminate this weekend with dangerous cold in Montana and North Dakota as heavy snow falls in other parts of the country, officials said.

People in North Dakota face 'life threatening cold' and the risk of frostbite with exposure of 10 minutes or less, the National Weather Service (NWS) said in an advisory.

Scroll down for video

Motorists in New Jersey struggle to cope with the snow accumulation early Saturday morning as the New York metropolitan area was blanketed with the white stuff

In Montana, dangerous wind chills are expected to last through Saturday afternoon and people should guard against hypothermia, the NWS said.

Temperatures in parts of Montana could plummet to record lows for this day of around minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 34 degrees Celsius), meteorologist Kenneth James of the Weather Prediction Center said in a phone interview.

The bitter cold comes from a blast of arctic air - the second one this week - blowing south from Canada across the US border into the northern plain states and the Midwest, NWS officials said.

It has joined forces with a storm that swept in from the Pacific Ocean, bringing snowfall to large sections of the northern United States as it chugs across the country to the East Coast, they said.

Areas of Wisconsin, Indiana, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine will see the heaviest snowfall from the storm on Saturday, with up to 6 inches (15 cm) of accumulation possible in those regions, James said.

New York City residents brave the snow before dawn on Saturday. The Big Apple was hit with about 3 inches of snow in some areas

The snowfall began to accumulate overnight, though the warmer temperatures later on in the day Saturday will see the snow turn to rain

Workers were out before dawn on Saturday to try to remove some of the snow from the sidewalks of New York

Despite the snow and the bitter cold, temperatures are expected to climb into the lower 40s in New York by Saturday afternoon

A man runs over the Brooklyn Bridge toward Manhattan as the snow accumulates throughout the New York area on Saturday

The snow provides a perfect backdrop for these two who snap a selfie in Times Square early on Saturday

Snow continued to fall on Saturday morning, as this man walking along Broadway in Manhattan can attest

Snow accumulates in the East Village section of Manhattan, forcing this woman to use an umbrella

These brave New Yorkers walk by Tom's Restaurant, made famous by the hit sitcom Seinfeld, early Saturday morning

Slippery start: St. Mark's Place in New York's East Village was typical of most streets that hadn't been plowed or salted

The snow won't be on the ground for long in New York, so these revelers in Times Square wanted to take advantage while it's there

The snow and freezing rain in the New York metropolitan area has compelled authorities to issue a travel advisory

The effects of the freezing cold temperatures in Boston are seen on this ladder used by firefighters

Firefighters in Boston responded to a six-alarm fire in a building on Bunker Hill Street near Monument Square in Charlestown

Boston on Friday experienced the coldest temperatures for that day since 1883, according to the NWS

The bitter cold gripped the northern United States early Saturday morning, as the arctic chill made its way southward from Canada

Snow will give way to rain in the Northeast on Sunday, with temperatures climbing into the 40s. Some areas like New York, Washington, and South Carolina will see high temperatures in the 50s and 60s

Saturday morning will see a wintry blast before more mild temperatures set in throughout the Northeast, South, Midwest, and parts of the Great Plains

Advisories and warnings are in effect Saturday from as far west as Denver all the way to Bangor, Maine

The freezing cold coupled with precipitation is making it more dangerous since ice is forming. Here's a breakdown of the ice accumulation

Much of the snow that is blanketing parts of the country on Saturday will melt as temperatures become more mild

The forecast for Saturday night has parts of the Northeast seeing warmer temperatures, but the bitter cold remains in the northern part of the country as well as the Midwest, Great Plain states, the Northwest, and the Rocky Mountain areas

The only warm areas of the country that have been spared the frigid winter conditions are the southern region stretching from Texas to Florida

Despite the brief reprieve, cold temperatures are expected to return Sunday night throughout much of the country

Windy and cold conditions will continue in the northern plains, but the eastern seaboard stretching from Boston to Florida will see unseasonably high temperatures

Temperatures on Monday night will dip into the teens and twenties for much of the Northeast, while Montana and North Dakota will see a welcome rise in temperatures

The stormy conditions of the weekend will give way to more calmer conditions on Monday

The weekend will bring rain and snow precipitation to wide swaths of the United States

And the extreme weather could snarl traffic in several parts of the country this weekend, from north-central Montana where the NWS warned of the possibility of drifting snow on roads to Philadelphia where the forecast calls for icy rain.

Americans living in areas affected by the cold weather have some relief on the way.

'It really begins petering out by about Monday morning,' James said.

How cold has it been?

Boston, which shivered in the arctic air after it blew in from the Midwest, on Friday experienced the coldest temperatures for that day since 1883, according to the NWS.

Schools were closed and officials warned residents to cover up or stay indoors.

In New York, a winter weather advisory was declared until 11am on Saturday.

The snowfall began early Saturday morning, with 1.8 inches reported in Central Park by 8am, according to the NWS.