Blizzard warnings are issued and potentially record-breaking snow is forecast from New York City to New England Friday.
Accumulations could reach 10 to 14 inches in New York and up to 2 feet in the Boston area.
The storm is wreaking havoc on flight schedules in dozens of cities, including Myrtle Beach.
While there were people at Myrtle Beach International Airport scrambling to make new travel arrangements and calling bosses and families back home to let them know what was going on, there were also many stranded travelers trying hard to be disappointed that they had to stay on the Grand Strand a little longer.
Doug O'Neill of Barrie, Ontario always gets to the airport plenty early for his flight back home to Canada.
Friday morning, he found out all flights to Toronto have been canceled until Sunday.
"Fortunately I have some people down here I'm staying with. I'll just have to call them and see if I can mooch it two more days," O'Neill said.
O'Neill is retired, so mooching two more days in Myrtle Beach is no problem. But even those who had jobs to get back to didn't seem heartbroken about their flight delays.
"We're already re-booked for tomorrow night, so we're hoping it's still going to go tomorrow," said Kathy Ouelette of Norfolk, MA.
And what happens if the flight doesn't go tomorrow? "Well, we'll stay and have fun," she laughed.
"Myrtle Beach is a nice place to be stranded," added Tom Malloy of Harleysville, PA, who said he wouldn't mind at all having to stay another day or two.
Most flights leaving Myrtle Beach Friday were headed to Charlotte or Atlanta, where in both cities, the weather was good and travel not a problem.
That still created anxious moments for some travelers, who knew that just getting out of Myrtle Beach didn't settle things.
"The airplane is leaving from Atlanta and then we'll see what happens from Charlotte to Syracuse," said Dick Calegiovanni.
While there was nothing but sunshine in Myrtle Beach, there were still those for whom getting back to family and friends in the snowy northeast remained a priority.
"I travel a bunch for business, so it's nice to get back home, even leaving this weather," said Rob Lanham of Philadelphia.
According to the flight tracking website Flightaware.com, more than 4,000 flights had been canceled through Saturday.
At New York City's three main airports, most airlines stopped flights after 2 p.m. Friday, resuming after noon Saturday.
