Bitter cold grips the eastern U.S.

Nearly half a million homes and businesses are without power after a massive storm.

- SOPHIE BATES, KRISTIN M. HALL AND RUSS BYNUM

A CONTRACTOR uses a snowblower in front of a business in Louisville, Ky.

(Jon Cherry Getty Images)

Three Texas siblings who perished in an icy pond were among several dozen deaths in US. states gripped by frigid cold Tuesday as crews scrambled to repair hundreds of thousands of power outages in the shivering South and — forecasters warned the winter weather is expected to get worse.

Brutal cold lingered in the wake of a massive storm that dumped deep snow across more than 1,300 miles from Arkansas to New England and left parts of the South coated in treacherous ice.

Freezing temperatures hovered Tuesday as far south as Tennessee, Arkansas and North Carolina, and were forecast to plunge again overnight. Parts of northern Florida were expected to sink to 25 degrees late Tuesday into early Wednesday.

The arctic misery over the eastern half of the U.S. was expected to worsen Friday and Saturday.

The National Weather Service said another winter storm could hit parts of the East Coast this weekend, and more record lows were forecast as far south as Florida.