<p class="title">A giant winter "bomb cyclone" walloped the US East Coast on Thursday with heavy snow and freezing cold that made for treacherous travel conditions and bone-chilling misery.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Four people were reported killed in the southeastern states of North and South Carolina, where icy roads sent vehicles skittering.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The National Weather Service said early Friday that very cold temperatures and wind chills will follow for much of the eastern third of the US through the weekend.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A cold wave gripping a large section of the United States had already been blamed for a dozen deaths.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Thousands of flights were cancelled and schools closed in many localities as snow piled up and blizzard conditions began taking hold in the northeast.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Officials closed the runways at La Guardia and Kennedy Airports in New York.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Temperatures were so low in northern New York that Niagara Falls -- the giant waterfalls straddling the US-Canadian border -- froze.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Snowfall eased by nightfall but temperatures were set to plunge to 8 Fahrenheit (minus 13 Celsius) and remain sub-freezing all weekend.</p>
<p class="title">A giant winter "bomb cyclone" walloped the US East Coast on Thursday with heavy snow and freezing cold that made for treacherous travel conditions and bone-chilling misery.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Four people were reported killed in the southeastern states of North and South Carolina, where icy roads sent vehicles skittering.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The National Weather Service said early Friday that very cold temperatures and wind chills will follow for much of the eastern third of the US through the weekend.</p>.<p class="bodytext">A cold wave gripping a large section of the United States had already been blamed for a dozen deaths.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Thousands of flights were cancelled and schools closed in many localities as snow piled up and blizzard conditions began taking hold in the northeast.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Officials closed the runways at La Guardia and Kennedy Airports in New York.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Temperatures were so low in northern New York that Niagara Falls -- the giant waterfalls straddling the US-Canadian border -- froze.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Snowfall eased by nightfall but temperatures were set to plunge to 8 Fahrenheit (minus 13 Celsius) and remain sub-freezing all weekend.</p>