A double dose of nasty winter is about to smack much of the US with snow, ice and biting cold

Meteorologists forecast a strong snow and ice storm followed by brutally cold conditions will soon smack the eastern two-thirds of the United States. In Friday's warnings, they say frigid air — the dreaded polar vortex — will escape and plunge as far south as Florida. Starting Saturday, millions of people are going to be hit by moderate to heavy snow from Kansas City to Washington, with dangerous likely just south of that. After that, temperatures are expected to be as much as 25 degrees below normal during a weeklong cold spell.