Winter Storm 'Jonas' Forecast To Slam East Coast

Snowfall as heavy as 1 to 3 inches an hour could continue for 24 hours or more in some places, said meteorologist Paul Kocin with the service's Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. That puts estimates at more than 2 feet for Washington, a foot to 18 inches for Philadelphia and 8 inches to a foot in New York.

CBS Radio Washington, D.C. affiliate WTOP-AM says parts of that region could see 2-and-a-half feet of snow.

"I've lived in D.C. most of my life, and I don't know that I have lived through a forecast like this," said Mayor Muriel Bowser.

Kocin compared the storm to "Snowmageddon," the first of two storms that "wiped out" Washington in 2010 and dumped up to 30 inches of snow in places, but he said the weekend timing and days of warning could help limit deaths and damage.

Arkansas, Tennessee and North Carolina were among the first to experience the potentially paralyzing storm overnight, as a mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain wreaked havoc on roads, reports CBS News correspondent Don Champion.

At a supermarket in Baltimore, Sharon Brewington stocked her cart with ready-to-eat snacks, bread, milk and cold cuts. In 2010, she and her daughter were stuck at home with nothing but noodles and water.

"I'm not going to make that mistake again," she said.

As food and supplies vanished from store shelves, five states and the District of Columbia declared states of emergency ahead of the slow-moving system. Schools and government offices closed pre-emptively. Thousands of flights were canceled. College basketball games and concerts were postponed.

The snowfall, expected to continue from late Friday into Sunday, could easily cause more than $1 billion in damage and paralyze the eastern third of the nation, weather service director Louis Uccellini said.

"It does have the potential to be an extremely dangerous storm that can affect more than 50 million people," Uccellini said at the Weather Prediction Center.

The director said all the ingredients have come together to create a blizzard with brutally high winds, dangerous inland flooding, white-out conditions and even the possibility of thunder snow.

Washington looks like the bull's eye of the blizzard, Uccellini said. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said President Obama would hunker down at the White House.

"It's going to be dangerous out there," said Tonya Woods, 42, a Washington Metro station manager who lives in suburban Clinton, Maryland. "I say they should shut things down."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.