A blizzard morphed into a bomb cyclone Friday, creating messy and deadly weather across the U.S. in the final countdown to Christmas.
At least nine deaths have been attributed to the winter storm, and power outages have surged above 1 million.
From coast to coast, millions are seeing ice, dangerous cold, flooding and snow this Christmas week.
Coastal flooding is a significant threat along much of the Northeast and New England coasts.
Widespread moderate flooding was ongoing Friday, according to the National Weather Service.
At high tide, flooding overtook coastal towns in Maine and Connecticut, where the bomb cyclone prompted High Wind, Coastal Flood and Flash Flood warnings.
Video from Wells and Ogunquit, Maine, showed huge waves lapping onto coastal roads. Residents were asked to avoid driving on ocean-front roadways.
Numerous roads were closed in New England due to strong winds and possible infrastructure damage.
The FOX Forecast Center warned of nearly 3 feet of storm surge in places like Portland, Maine.
Meanwhile, in the Great Lakes, massive waves between 14 and 18 feet high are forecast for Hamburg, New York, where some evacuation orders are in place for a coastal neighborhood.
“All my clothing is just a sheet of ice,” FOX Weather correspondent Max Gorden said with waves crashing around him from Lake Erie in Hamburg.
It doesn’t matter if travelers are getting to their destinations by plane, train, boat or car; this storm hasn’t spared any mode of transportation.
The winter storm has been blamed for at least nine deaths across five states.
Eight fatalities were linked to crashes caused by dangerous road conditions. A man in North Texas died due to exposure to sub-freezing temperatures, according to FOX 4 Dallas.
Airlines have proactively canceled flights with nearly 3,700 cancelations nationwide, with the most impacts in places like Seattle, New York, Chicago, Denver and Atlanta.
Flooding created havoc for the New Jersey Transit System on Friday, covering the tracks in Hoboken.
New Jersey Department of Transportation officials placed restrictions on multiple interstate highways beginning Friday due to a possible flash freeze.
Staten Island Ferry service was temporarily suspended Friday due to high winds and tides.
In the mid-South, wind chills dropped below zero with some areas forecast to drop to 25 below. Snow squalls in Tennessee have created low visibility on roads.
In Ohio, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office has declared a Level 2 snow emergency telling drivers that unless they “absolutely have to be on the road, please stay off the highways.”
Snow and low visibility closed several highways in Kentucky on Friday, including parts of Interstate 71. Several crashes were reported on Interstate 64, where slick conditions were creating hazardous driving.
For the Midwest, snow, wind, ice and dangerously cold temperatures are causing crashes and ruining any last–minute shopping plans in places like Chicago and Minneapolis.
FOX Weather correspondent Robert Ray was in Chicago, where sea smoke was rising from Lake Michigan creating an eerie landscape in Chicagoland.
WHAT IS SEA SMOKE? SEE THE RARE PHENOMENON
Up and down the central U.S., more than 200 million people are under Wind Chill Advisories and Warnings. More than half of the U.S. has snow on the ground.
The South has not been spared from the cold and wind.
Morning low temperatures Friday morning were in the teens and single digits as far south as Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee, according to the FOX Forecast Center, while temperatures remained in the teens from Central Texas to Georgia.
Nashville police responded to 34 calls for crashes Friday, mostly due to the icy road conditions early in the day.
WHITE CHRISTMAS FORECAST: BLIZZARD TO LEAVE MUCH OF NATION COVERED IN SNOW FOR HOLIDAY WEEKEND
The winter storm kicked off in the West earlier this week before it began spreading a blizzard-weather bingo across the Midwest and northern Plains.
Temperatures plummeted by nearly 40 degrees within an hour in Denver on Wednesday, and the life-threatening chill remains in place across many areas in the West.
According to the NWS in Denver, the Mile High City marked its second-coldest day on record Thursday with a low of negative 15 degrees.
A significant ice storm is shutting down multiple modes of transportation in the Pacific Northwest on Friday.
About a quarter-inch of ice built up in Seattle on Friday, creating dangerously slick conditions.
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport reopened a runway Friday after allowing time to de-ice.