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Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Temperatures are 10 to 15 degrees below average over parts of the Northern Plains to the Ohio Valley and the eastern third of the country Sunday, while snow is making post-Thanksgiving holiday travel treacherous in the Great Lakes region. More than 2 million people near Lakes Erie, Michigan and Ontario remain under a snow warning where snow has already blanketed parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York state, the National Weather Service reported.
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Western New York has already gotten 4 feet of snow, and warnings are expected to expire there Sunday night and Monday, but have been extended in parts of northeast Ohio and northwest Pennsylvania until Tuesday, according to the Weather Prediction Center.
"These intense bands will result in deep and drifting snow, likely measured in several feet in the hardest-hit areas," the center's storm summary said. "Travel will remain very difficult to impossible in these areas."
Nearly 70% of the United States will experience overnight temperatures below freezing over the next few days as Arctic air moves down from Canada and blankets much of the country.
"Yesterday, I shoveled for four hours and today I've been here for about an hour," Erie resident and native Richard Korytowski told local TV station WICU as he dug out his driveway. "I expected to shovel," he said, "but not this much."
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has closed several roads in Erie County, and state officials have advised people to avoid roadways, if possible.
"Stay home, stay in place, stay safe. Only travel when necessary," Erie County Executive Brenton Davis said at a news conference Sunday, where he described the storm as a "snowmageddon event."
The state's transportation department has reduced travel speeds on Interstates 80 and 96 to 45 mph.
Debris has prompted the Ohio Department of Transportation to close several roads, and officials are reminding travelers to use caution on snowy and icy roadways.
While it is snarling holiday weekend travel across much of the northeast, some residents are not bothered by the heavy snowfall.
Tug Hill, N.Y., resident Kathy Davis called Saturday's snowfall a "good old-fashioned winter," in a video on WWNY.
"This is what I remember as a kid," Davis said, according to WWNY. "It just keeps coming and coming."
The Buffalo Bills are scheduled to host the San Francisco 49ers at home Sunday night, where snow blankets Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y. The team has solicited the help of fans to help remove the snow before kickoff.
The Bills announced in a press release that the team would pay people $20 an hour and provide food and hot drinks for their efforts, and offered a link to sign up online.
