The severely cold weather will set the stage for "a potent winter storm" early this week, forecasters for the Weather Channel said.
AccuWeather.com's Alex Sosnowski predicted the Northeast is in for a storm rivaling last month's Christmas blizzard.
"More and more signs are pointing toward a major storm along much of the Atlantic Seaboard ... meaning a wind-whipped snow for some areas and wind-driven rain for others," he said on AccuWeather's website.
The snowy shellacking isn't expected to arrive until Monday night after the Southeast gets its own cold soak, the Weather Channel said.
"After a dry day region-wide on Monday, snow will begin to move in from the Midwest Monday night into Tuesday, with a stronger and messier system moving up the coast on Wednesday," Weather Channel meteorologist Mark Avery said.
Upstate New York and New England were forecast to dip into the single digits.
Meteorologist Daniel Brown of Springfield, Massachusetts, news channel abc40 said temperatures there could sink to a new record low of minus 20 degrees on Monday morning, beating the current record nadir of 12 below zero set in 1961.
"The bitter blast will loosen its grip by Tuesday afternoon," Brown stated.
Tennessee Department of Transportation chief engineer Paul Degges wrote on the agency's website that TDOT is working to replenish its salt supplies. In the meantime, the state will increase its use of snow plows, and step up the use of salt brine and calcium chloride to stretch its de-icing capacity.
Snow had already begun to coat Midwest and Plains areas on Sunday.
A heavy dose of rain and snow also was forecast for the northern tier of the West on Sunday night.
Temperatures have warmed to four degrees below zero in International Falls, Minnesota, up from 46 below zero on January 21, the coldest day in over 100 years, officials said Sunday.
There were no deaths or injuries related to the weather in the border town of about 6,000 people and weather is expected to slowly improve to 25 degrees Fahrenheit by Wednesday.
A storm front sweeping the Rockies was expected to bring gale-force winds and hurricane-strength gusts to the region, the National Weather Service reported in Great Falls, Montana.
High-wind warnings and travel advisories were posted for the Montana capital of Helena and the central part of the state, with hazardous conditions stretching from the Canadian border to the Wyoming line.
The storm was expected to push across Montana and into North Dakota by early Monday.