Washington, January 23 (RHC)-- An “extremely dangerous storm” began dumping snow on the Eastern and Southern parts of United States on Friday, prompting five states to declare states of emergency and threatening to cripple the lives of more than 50 million people.

The National Weather Service said the storm had the potential to paralyze a broad region of the East Coast, with about 2 feet (61 cm) of snow due to hit the Baltimore and Washington metro areas over the weekend. 

AccuWeather senior meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said the storm could bring Washington one of its biggest snowfalls on record, eclipsing the "Snowmageddon" storm of 2010 that dropped 17.8 inches (45.2 cm).  Washington, DC Mayor Muriel Bowser warned that the snow storm has "life and death implications."

As the storm began to hit, a state of emergency was declared in Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Washington, DC, and parts of other states.  Schools and government offices were closed, thousands of flights were canceled and millions of people stocked up on supplies.