Winter weather delivers white Christmas across US

— -- It was a white Christmas in the United States, with snow falling from Seattle to a possible 50-inch total in western New York state.

Northeast

Major lake-effect snow fell throughout the evening in western New York state, where snow fell at the rate of 2 to 4 inches per hour. The National Weather Service forecast up to 4 feet of snow in the next 48 hours in western New York. Authorities there are advising residents to avoid traveling because of the heavy snow and gusty winds.

Earlier, up to 15 inches of snow fell during a snowstorm in Maine, while up to one foot fell in New Hampshire.

Winds reached 76 mph in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, while up to 61 mph winds tore through Long Island, New York.

Falling snow collected on the runways at Boston's Logan International Airport Monday, causing temporary flight delays.

The wind was so severe in Pennsylvania and New Jersey that the annual re-enactment of George Washington and his soldiers’ crossing the Delaware River was canceled, the Washington Crossing Historic Park told ABC News.

Temperatures in the Northeast overnight were expected to dip below zero in some places and rise slightly to the single digits and teens around Washington, D.C.

Midwest

Heavy lake effect snow fell in western Michigan and the Upper Peninsula of the state.

The National Weather Service has issued a wind-chill warning and advisory from Montana to Michigan.

Bitter cold air in the Midwest produced wind chills Monday morning as low as minus-48 degrees in North Dakota and minus-47 in northern Minnesota.

As this bitter cold made its way east overnight, it was expected to move over relatively mild Great Lakes, producing intense lake-effect snow bands capable of producing 2 to 4 inches of snow in an hour.

West Coast

Downtown Portland, Oregon, also had a white Christmas; its sixth since 1884.

And a storm system brought the first white Christmas to Seattle in nine years.

That storm system moved overnight through the Rockies, bringing more snow and the threat of avalanches.

The National Weather Service has issued an avalanche warning for the Wasatch Range mountains outside Salt Lake City