(CNN) - Exposure to subfreezing temperatures has left at least three people dead in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois, according to authorities.
The National Weather Service forecasters urged caution early Friday as they warned "bitterly cold conditions" were expected to continue across much of the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast into the weekend.
Widespread light snow showers were expected across the upper Great Lakes region and across the Ohio Valley before moving later in the day across the eastern United States, according to the weather service.
Forecasters at the National Weather Service predicted 1 to 4 inches of snow for areas in the Ohio Valley and Mid-Atlantic regions on Friday with the Carolinas and Tennessee Valley getting freezing rain beginning early in the morning.
The snow was expected to move later in the day into the eastern United States. It was not good news in portions of New York and New Jersey, where homes destroyed by Superstorm Sandy in places such as Staten Island and Far Rockaway, Queens, lacked basic utilities needed to restore heat.
With temperatures plummeting, warming centers were opened in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and other areas, according to various emergency management officials.
This morning on "Early Start," meteorologist Jennifer Delgado reports live from Nashville, TN on the bitter cold gripping the nation.
READ MORE: Bundle up, forecasters warn, as arctic blast hits eastern US
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