A quick-hitting snowstorm is hitting most of Massachusetts Sunday night into Monday before an arctic blast of air arrives on Tuesday and Wednesday.Buckle up folks, we've got a tough winter stretch ahead of us.

A winter storm blasted the Boston area overnight, dropping up to half a spot of snow in some parts of New England.

Wind chill reached 49 degrees below zero this week with over 100 mile-per-hour winds at the Mount Washington Observatory.

"The level and extensiveness of the frigid air may be tough to match the rest of the winter," forecasters warned.

It’s hardly unusual for the summit of New England’s tallest peak to see temperatures dip this low — the record wind chill is 109 degrees below zero — but Wednesday's wind chill is the lowest it has been this week,

Tens of millions of residents along the East Coast are bracing for several inches of snow Sunday followed by dangerously cold temperatures that will take hold in much of the country from the Northern Plains to the tip of Maine.

Heavy snow is expected to blanket large portions of the Eastern U.S. while much of the country will endure dangerously cold temperatures in the coming days

On Friday afternoon the NWS reported "confidence is increasing that southern New England will experience a light to moderate winter storm."

A dangerous and potentially life-threatening stretch of cold weather has much of the U.S. on alert as a lobe of the polar vortex invades the nation and sends temperatures tumbling to levels not seen in years.

A combination of frigid air with a low pressure system over the Gulf are behind the storm, which could bring heavy snow just south of the Interstate 20 corridor across northern Louisiana and into Mississippi and a mix of snow, sleet, and freezing rain near the Interstate 10 corridor from Houston to Mobile, Alabama.

An arctic blast is set to bring wind chill temperatures as low as single digits below zero in Massachusetts. Meteorologists tell us how to prepare.