At least nine states from Georgia to Delaware are under snow and ice alerts as a winter storm moves east -- with brutal, record-breaking cold temperatures in the Midwest and Central U.S. in the wake of the storm.

Officials have urged residents to stay off the roads in portions of Virginia and North Carolina, where a storm dropped heavy snow and caused hundreds of accidents in places that aren’t accustomed to significant accumulations.

The latest in a repeated pattern of winter storms is taking direct aim at the East Coast where heavy snow and some ice is forecast in several states