AP Photos: This is what it looks like as winter blasts the US into a deep freeze

Winter turned its icy gaze on the US this week, blanketing cities and states from east to west with snow and sending temperatures into a polar spiral.

In Buffalo, New York, residents trekked through at least 20 inches of new snow that fell on top of 10 feet that arrived over the weekend. Heavy snowfall from the lake shut down City Hall, canceled schools in several districts and led to travel bans in several suburbs.

In Oregon, trees crashed onto cars and homes, forcing residents of Lake Oswego and state forest workers in Portland to clean up while still dealing with power outages caused by an earlier storm.

Frost crawled through the windows of New Orleans cafes. Blades of grass hardened into icicles as snow fell and temperatures dropped in Houston, Texas.

In Chicago, an elderly man warmed his hands by a fire he built across the street from a homeless encampment.

Good Samaritans in Nashville helped stranded motorists and their vehicles to safety after a storm covered roads with up to eight inches of snow.

But while millions of Americans sheltered from the freezing temperatures, others took to the road for snowball fights and sledding expeditions.

Pedestrians braved the cold while walking in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and children sailed over snowbanks near the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

And the steam rising from Chicago’s Lake Michigan attracted would-be photographers, bundled up and enjoying the view as winter arrived.