Visitors stand at the 9/11 Memorial after one of the first big storms of the season moved across the eastern half of the country. Photo / AP
The first wintry blast of the season brought several inches of snow, contributing to eight deaths across the country and slowing New York City's Thursday evening commute to a crawl.
From St. Louis to the South and into the Northeast, snow, freezing rain, and in some parts, sleet, made driving tricky and closed schools Thursday, reports news.com.au.
And the storm will continue to cause travel disruptions and power outages into Friday with the potential for up to 12 inches inches of snow from western Maryland to northwestern Maine, AccuWeather reports.
Eight people have died as a result of weather-related road accidents. They include three people killed in separate accidents in Ohio, Indiana and Maryland, two people who died in a tour bus accident in Mississippi and another three people who died in two separate incidents in Arkansas.
"In some areas, it is possible that one to two inches of sleet falls on top of the snow," AccuWeather senior meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said.
In New York City, the wet snowfall and wind gusts on Thursday downed numerous tree branches and police advised people to stay indoors and avoid the roads.
Commuters were also advised to avoid the Port Authority Bus Terminal - which is also used by some to travel to New Jersey - due to extreme overcrowding.
By 5:30 p.m., the terminal had become an immovable block of wall-to-wall commuters all gazing up at the schedule board. Lines of people waited to get into the terminal as officials urged them to take trains or ferries.
Shocking photos from inside the station show hundreds of commuters sporting their winter jackets and hats as they are crammed in. The terminal was partially closed down and travelers were banned from entering the second and third level.
As a result of the storm, the city's students were left stranded on school buses late into Thursday night. Special-needs student George Jordan spent seven hours on a bus home to the Bronx, the New York Post reports.
The poor weather made it difficult for buses to reach the terminal, officials said. And a multi-vehicle accident on the George Washington Bridge and the closure of the Bayonne Bridge connecting Staten Island to New Jersey added to the traffic nightmare.
A mayoral spokesman said the early storm meant that Metropolitan Transportation Authority didn't have snow chains on its buses. He said many of them had to pull over, "further clogging streets".
In New Jersey, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie tweeted that it took him five hours and 40 minutes to commute from Piscataway to Mendham, a roughly 26-mile journey that normally takes about 40 minutes.
There were scattered delays on the Long Island Rail Road and New Jersey Transit reported 30-minute delays system wide. Flight delays of up to an hour were reported at JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports.
Forecasters said the snow should turn to mostly sleet and rain before changing to rain overnight.
As much as eight inches of snow blanketed the St. Louis area, and forecasters predicted up to six inches in parts of southern New England as the storm made its way east.
They also predicted northern New Jersey could see four to eight inches of snow before the system exits the region early Friday, while parts of suburban Philadelphia had five inches of snow by Thursday afternoon.
Weather officials said the overnight trace in Alabama missed setting a record for earliest snow by about two weeks.
In neighboring Mississippi, a tour bus bound for a casino overturned, killing two people and injuring 44 others Wednesday afternoon.
The crash happened about 35 miles southeast of downtown Memphis, Tennessee. Betty Russell, 70, and Cynthia Hardin, 61, both of Huntsville, Alabama, died, said DeSoto County Coroner Joshua Pounders.
The injured were taken to Memphis-area hospitals, with at least three listed in serious condition Wednesday evening.
Officials said the group was traveling from Huntsville, Alabama, to gamble at a casino in Mississippi's Tunica County, about 40 miles to the west.
Witnesses told Mississippi investigators the tour bus driver lost control after crossing an icy overpass and the bus rolled over on its driver's side, coming to rest in median of Interstate 269 in Byhalia around 12.35pm, said Mississippi Highway Patrol spokesman Capt. Johnny Poulos.
"All of a sudden the bus started swerving then it spun around two times, hit the rail and then flipped over," bus passenger Veronica Love told news outlets as she left a hospital after the wreck. "The second spin, it started picking up speed. It was, I mean, what could you do?"
Witnesses said the driver lost control after crossing an icy overpass and the bus rolled over on its driver's side, coming to rest in an interstate median, Mississippi Highway Patrol spokesman Capt. Johnny Poulos said. The crash happened about 35 miles southeast of downtown Memphis, Tennessee.
"All of a sudden the bus started swerving then it spun around two times, hit the rail and then flipped over," bus passenger Veronica Love told news outlets as she left a hospital after the wreck. "The second spin, it started picking up speed. It was, I mean, what could you do?"
Later Wednesday night, near Little Rock, Arkansas, three people were killed in separate crashes on icy roads. The interstate was closed and reopened shortly before daybreak Thursday, but officials said traffic was slow-going because some drivers had fallen asleep.
Officials in Ohio reported at least one traffic death that was likely weather-related. Indiana State Police also reported a death early Thursday, which they said was caused by the 60-year-old woman driving too fast on a slick road.
In Philadelphia, a meteorologist told the Allentown Morning Call that this storm is "an overperformer". By 3 p.m. Thursday, parts of suburban Philadelphia had five inches of snow.
The freezing rain turned to ice on roads around the state, leading to a number of crashes and reports of cars sliding off roads.
In North Carolina, the National Park Service closed a portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway to traffic Thursday because of dangerous road conditions stemming from snow, sleet and freezing rain, the Asheville Citizen Times reported.
Schools closed or sent students home early across the lower Great Lakes and the Northeast, including at the University of Connecticut where classes were canceled in the afternoon.
Nearly half a million people across the Midwest, mid-Atlantic and Northeast were left without power after the storm struck last night.
The storm was forecast to dump as much as six inches on parts of New England, while in the Midwest the St Louis area saw the highest accumulation with up to eight inches of snow on Thursday morning.
The storm has already wreaked havoc on roads in the South, where icy roads led to fatal crashes in Mississippi and Arkansas on Wednesday night.
New Yorkers braced for commuter misery on the way home, as officials warned drivers to travel with extreme caution.
"Early winter weather is moving through the state this week and I urge New Yorkers to be prepared and to use caution when driving due to reduced visibility and possible black ice," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a statement.
"We are watching these weather systems and stand ready to assist our local partners as needed," Cuomo said.
Airline chaos rippled across the country, with at least 464 flight cancellations and over 1,946 delays as of Thursday night, according to FlightAware.
A mix of snow and sleet changed to rain which continued there throughout the day.
As the storm hit with Thanksgiving still a week away, school districts closed or sent students home early across the lower Great Lakes and the Northeast.
The University of Connecticut canceled classes starting at 3:30 p.m. or later at its main campus, satellite campuses and law school.
About a dozen school districts in New Jersey and others in Connecticut decided to send students home early.
Hundreds of schools in the central U.S. closed Thursday morning, with as much as eight inches blanketing the St Louis area by the early afternoon.
In Indianapolis, the National Weather Service issued an ice storm warning. The state's largest school district, Indianapolis Public Schools, closed classes citing "dangerously slick road conditions".
Forecasters were predicting up to six inches of snow in parts of southern New England, beginning in the mid-afternoon Thursday.
Snow fell as far southeast as central Alabama, which got a dusting. While wintry precipitation is unusual in the Deep South so early in the season, forecasters said the overnight trace missed setting a record for earliest snow by about two weeks.
Around the upper South, meanwhile, the storm spread scattered sleet and light snow on Wednesday.
By Thursday, the snow hit as far west as St Louis, where much of the region had at least four inches of snow and forecasters expected about one inch or two inches more to fall.
And in Virginia, NASA said, the planned launch early Thursday of an unmanned cargo rocket to the International Space Station had to be rescheduled by one day because of the weather.
The unmanned Cygnus cargo craft is now scheduled to lift off early Friday from Wallops Island on the Eastern Shore carrying supplies and research materials for the astronauts at the space station.
Elsewhere, an ice storm hitting parts of Indiana shut down schools and left hazardous conditions on roadways Thursday morning.
The Australian actor starred in Australian soaps before finding success in the US.