A major winter blast of snow, ice, wind and plunging temperatures in the U.S. stirred dangerous travel conditions from central and southern states all the way to the East Coast early Monday, prompting schools and government offices in several states to close.

As a deep winter chill begins to take over the northern half of the country, a new major winter storm will move across the U.S. this weekend into early next week.

The storm system worked its way through the northern Rockies and central Plains during the first half of the weekend, hours after slamming the West Coast and even spawning the first tornado of the