At least nine states from Georgia to Delaware are under snow and ice alerts as a winter storm moves east -- with brutal, record-breaking cold temperatures in the Midwest and Central U.S. in the wake of the storm.

The projected path of a cross-county storm has been finalized by forecasters as the system barrels toward the East Coast.The system will arrive in the mid-Atlantic starting late Wednesday afternoon, Feb.

Officials urged people to stay off the roads Wednesday in portions of Virginia and North Carolina where a storm dropped heavy snow and caused hundreds of accidents in places unaccustomed to significant accumulations.