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More than 4,500 flights were cancelled yesterday in the US because of extreme winter weather.
JetBlue Airways suspended nearly all operations at airports in Boston and around New York City until midday today and other airlines faced delays and cancellations as temperatures continued to plummet.
Freezing rain also caused hundreds of flights to be grounded at airports in Toronto and Ottawa.
The sub-zero conditions are expected to reach as far south as Texas and central Florida, the US National Weather Service said.
Tennessee and Kentucky were forecast to receive several inches of snow.
The weather has been blamed for at least 16 deaths in recent days, the BBC reported.
Meteorologists said some 187 million people in all would feel the effects of the cold snap by today (Tuesday).
It has been widely blamed on a shift in the weather pattern known as the “polar vortex”.
The temperature In Comertown, Montana, sank to -53°C with wind chill.
Environment Canada senior climatologist David Phillips said some parts of Canada could see as much as 23 inches of snow over just a few days.