At least six people have been killed on icy roads as a winter storm blasts the US east coast.
Perhaps the biggest accident happened in Baltimore, when a tanker carrying petrol skidded off a highway and exploded, authorities said.
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Two people died in the 55-vehicle pileup on Interstate 95, Baltimore City Fire Chief Roman Clark said. Hospital officials said nearly two dozen people were treated for injuries including broken bones and head trauma.
Clark said it was too early to determine the cause of Saturday's crash.
Winter weather advisories were posted from Denver to Bangor, Maine. Airports reported hundreds of flight delays or cancellations, interstates and toll roads reduced speed limits and authorities urged drivers to use extreme caution.
There were dozens of crashes in Indiana - two of them involving fatalities - due to freezing rain and ice, officials said. It was not immediately clear how many people were killed.
In Ohio, a Columbus woman died on Saturday when her car skidded off a slick road, authorities said. In another accident in Baltimore, six people were taken to the hospital after a crash on I-695 involving 15 to 20 vehicles, Baltimore County tweeted. In Nebraska, Douglas County Sheriff's deputies said one person was killed on Friday night when his car slid off an icy road north of Omaha, hit a tree and burst into flames.
Temperatures plummeted and people braced for the cold
Temperatures in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area were expected to drop to minus-20C overnight.
People were advised to stay indoors for the weekend. The temperature was expected to reach 4C in Chicago on Sunday.
Portions of six states, from Missouri to Mississippi, were under the threat of tornadoes or severe thunderstorms.
Meanwhile, more than three dozen crashes and a fatality were reported in the northern part of Virginia. Police said a man was found dead on the side of I-495.
In North Carolina, police and emergency workers reported more than 100 crashes overnight in Raleigh and Charlotte as the drizzle combined with temperatures below freezing to create dangerous icy patches.
Charlotte police reported two people killed in separate fatal crashes early Saturday, although investigators were still trying to figure out if ice caused the wrecks.
