By Aya Elamroussi, Derrick Hinds, Travis Caldwell, Maureen Chowdhury, Aditi Sangal and Tori B. Powell, CNN
From CNN's Haley Brink
Some wind chill alerts have begun to expire across portions of the central and eastern regions of the US, reducing the number of people under these alerts to more than 100 million people.
The alerts still include these cities:
A vast majority of these remaining alerts will expire by mid-day.
From CNN’s Rebekah Riess
John Cooper, the metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County mayor, on Saturday morning issued a tweet calling on the Tennessee Titans NFL team to postpone their noon game “in solidarity with our neighbors,” amid ongoing rolling blackouts by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
Cooper said the TVA’s unilateral rolling blackouts will continue and asked all non-essential businesses to reduce power usage.
“TVA needs to invest in infrastructure to withstand extreme temps,” the mayor added.
CNN has reached out to the NFL and Tennessee Titans organizations for comment.
From CNN's Haley Brink
A total of 27.8 inches (more than two feet) of snowfall has been recorded at Buffalo airport in New York since the snow began Friday morning, according to the National Weather Service.
Meanwhile, much of the southern and eastern shorelines of the Great Lakes remain under blizzard warnings through tomorrow morning due to strong winds and additional lake-effect snow across the region.
The heaviest snowfall is expected east of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario through tomorrow where an additional one to two feet of snow is possible. Winds could also gust as high as 65 mph across these regions today.
“Travel will be impossible in the lake-effect snow band,” the Buffalo weather service office wrote in their blizzard warning. “Areas of blowing snow will produce zero visibility. Very strong winds will cause extensive tree damage and power outages.”
Here are some additional snowfall totals over the last 24 hours, according to the weather service:
From CNN’s Dianne Gallagher, Rebekah Riess and Joe Sutton
Duke Energy, the electric power company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Saturday morning announced “emergency outages” as extremely cold temperature drive unusually high energy demand across the Carolinas.
“We have begun short, temporary power outages. These emergency outages are necessary to protect the energy grid against longer, more widespread outages. We appreciate your patience,” the energy provider said in a tweet.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper spoke with the Duke Energy CEO, according to a statement from his office.
“This morning I spoke with Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good to offer assistance and to express urgency about the need to restore power quickly in this extreme cold while keeping customers accurately informed,” Cooper said in the statement. “I’m grateful for the workers braving the wind and cold to get the power back on."
From CNN’s Polo Sandoval and Celina Tebor
Two people have died in Erie County, New York, in what may be the community’s worst winter storm since the famous 1977 Buffalo blizzard, county officials said Saturday.
The town of Cheektowaga reported two deaths Friday night after emergency vehicle services were unable to get to their homes during medical emergencies, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said Saturday morning during a news conference.
The individuals died in separate incidents and their nature of their deaths is not known, he said.
In the hardest hit areas of the county, up to two-thirds of emergency response vehicles are stuck, Poloncarz said — in one instance, it took emergency responders over an hour and 40 minutes to travel only two miles on Friday night.
“Due to the severity of the storm, it is unlikely we can provide transport to non-life-threatening situations,” he said, discouraging residents from calling 911 or the snow hotline numbers unless their lives were in danger.
The county has also received reports of natural gas and carbon monoxide backing into homes after snow blocked furnace and dryer vents, according to Poloncarz.
“This may turn out to be the worst storm in our community's history, surpassing the famed blizzard of 77 for its ferocity," he said.
From CNN's Joe Sutton
More than 1.7 million customers across the United States are still without power amid the winter weather and frigid temperatures.
At least 1,757,913 customers are in the dark as of 9:30 a.m. ET on Saturday, according to PowerOutage.US.
Here's a breakdown in terms of national regions:
From CNN's Ashley Killough and Ed Lavandera
As freezing temperatures from a coast-to-coast winter storm arrive in El Paso, Texas, some migrants who haven’t turned themselves in to border agents or officials after crossing the US-Mexico border are having a difficult time finding shelter.
El Paso is in the midst of a declared state of emergency over thousands of migrants living in unsafe conditions, as a former President Donald Trump-era border policy keeping migrants out of the US remains in flux amid court proceedings.
The city has opened government-run shelters at its convention center, hotels and several unused schools, but is unable to accept migrants who don’t have documentation from Customs and Border Protection, said El Paso city spokesperson Laura Cruz Acosta.
The city must follow state and federal policies, which she said require migrants to have documentation in order to receive shelter at government-run facilities.
If undocumented migrants show up at government-run sites, they are connected with Customs and Border Protection to start the process of turning themselves in, or are connected with shelters run by nongovernmental organizations on the ground, she said.
As dangerously cold temperatures arrive this week, US border officials are warning migrants seeking to enter the country of the dire weather.
“Extremely cold, below freezing temperatures are expected along the Mexico and United States border during the next several days,” Hugo Carmona, acting associate chief of US Border Patrol Operations, said in a video statement. “Do not risk your life and that of your loved ones trying to cross the river or the desert. Help avoid human death and tragedy, stay home or remain in a safe shelter. This is a warning of extreme importance.”
Read more here and watch how migrants are coping with below freezing temperatures, in the video below:
From CNN's Jacqueline Howard
If you are in the path of the winter storm, here are some tips for staying safe indoors and outdoors as temperatures drop.
Tips to stay safe indoors When staying indoors during cold temperatures or the winter storm, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers these tips:
“Never using generators, gas or charcoal grills, camp stoves, or similar devices inside your home, in basements, in garages, or near windows,” the CDC says. “The fumes are deadly.”
Using the stove for heat is not safe, the CDC warns; instead, use extra blankets, sleeping bags or coats. A well-maintained fireplace or a portable space heater may be a safe alternative.
Tips to stay safe outdoors When venturing outdoors, the CDC and National Weather Service have some recommendations:
From CNN's Aya Elamroussi
More than 1.6 million homes and businesses nationwide were without power on the morning of Christmas Eve, thanks to an Arctic blast and winter storm that tore down power lines with destructive winds and heavy snow and dipped temperatures dangerously low – conditions killing at least 15 people.
As bone-chilling air continues to grip the US this holiday weekend, the unrelenting storm is pummeling the Midwest and parts of the East with heavy snow, blizzard conditions and even flooding along the Northeast coast. No letup is in sight until the end of Christmas Day.
At least 15 people have died since Wednesday across four states, a result of how dangerous and life-threatening conditions have been this week over a large swath of the country.
Here’s what else you can expect this Christmas Eve:
CNN’s Britley Ritz, Amanda Watts, Tina Burnside, Ray Sanchez, Eric Levenson, Taylor Ward and Nicki Brown contributed reporting to this post.