A blast of winter weather has brought snowfall and subfreezing wind chills across the Midwest and East Coast as well as near-freezing temperatures in parts of the South, including Florida.

Two winter storms will move through the East this weekend, with cold air coming right behind it in an arctic blast forecast for next week.

Even small amounts of snow in areas not used to it can cause hazardous driving conditions, forecasters warned.

Around 55 million people across the eastern half of the country are under winter weather alerts as a cold, snowy and windy holiday weekend is expected.

Parts of northern New Jersey could get 1 to 2 inches of snow by Saturday morning with a dusting possible as far south as the I-95 corridor before a change to rain, forecasters say. A second storm tracking along the coast could bring additional snow to the state Sunday, but the path remains uncertain.

Light-to-moderate snow in the forecast has led the CBS News New York Weather Team to issue a First Alert Weather Day.

As cold air continues to surge out of central Canada, more clipper storms will roll from the Midwest to the Northeast with rounds of snow, lake-effect and gusty winds into the middle of the new week.

Millions of people in the High Plains will experience widespread wind gusts between 60 to 80 mph, from Montana to Kansas.