A winter storm that dropped heavy snow and glazed roads throughout the U.S. South was maintaining its icy grip on much of the region into the weekend. Power outage numbers around Atlanta crept up Friday night as meteorologists warned of accumulating freezing rain.

At least 46 million people were under a winter storm warning as of Thursday as the storm spreads along the Gulf Coast Friday, according to the weather service. The storm should weaken by Saturday, bringing lighter snow between 1 and 3 inches to parts of the Northeast, the Mid-Atlantic and the Ohio Valley before exiting off the Carolinas.

Twenty states, from Texas to Delaware, were on alert Friday for snow and ice as the storm continued to move across the South.