WASHINGTON (CN) - Americans across the country were still digging themselves out Monday morning after a major winter storm blustered through over the weekend, leaving more than a foot of snow in some places and shuttering schools, businesses and even the federal government.

As many as 20 states from Massachusetts down to North Carolina and as far west as Colorado saw heavy snowfall over the weekend thanks to the long-anticipated winter storm, which has so far killed as many as 18 people. Frigid temperatures and icy conditions were expected to continue throughout the week in much of the country.

A private Bombardier Challenger 600 jet carrying eight people crashed on takeoff at Maine's Bangor International Airport Sunday night. The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday that one member of the crew survived with serious injuries but everyone else aboard died.

According to data from the National Weather Service, the East Coast was hardest hit by the weekend weather. Parts of Connecticut and eastern New York saw as many as 20 inches of snow, and as much as 16 inches fell across New York City. Snow accumulation in the Northeast was rivaled only by western Pennsylvania, where similar amounts of snowfall were recorded.

In Washington, snowfall turned into sleet Sunday morning, leaving a wintry mix that ground the city to a screeching halt. Photos and videos circulated throughout the day of cars trapped on slick roads by Nationals Stadium and by Howard University.

Storm conditions continued to affect D.C.'s Metro mass transit system on Monday morning, but there were few commuters out - federal offices announced late last week that most agency employees would be permitted to telework, and both houses of Congress were out of session until Tuesday afternoon.

The somewhat unexpected arrival of sleet also put a damper on planned snow day festivities in the capital city. The Washington, D.C. Snowball Fight Association was forced to call off its season-first fight on the National Mall thanks to icy conditions, but snowballs were flying elsewhere in the city. Dozens of people gathered in northwest D.C.'s Malcolm X Park Sunday morning to hurl frozen projectiles at a life-sized cardboard cutout of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, an act of wintry protest against the Trump administration's ongoing crackdown in Minneapolis.

In Baltimore, Mayor Brandon Scott announced a continuing state of emergency late Sunday night while a city councilman griped about the inefficiency of a company contracted to remove snow from some areas. Schools, courts and other government functions were closed ahead of the storm, which came in about as severe as had been forecast.

State and county road crews worked overnight and into the day to dig out ahead of predicted cold weather, with expected lows in the single digits for the rest of the week after a brief respite on Monday. Joppa, Maryland, about 20 miles north of Baltimore City, saw about 10 inches of snow, the top two of which were solid ice from the sleet that started in late afternoon and finished around midnight. Roads were icy and barely plowed still by noon, but people were getting around as they slowly dug out.

Conditions were similar in Philadelphia to the north, where snow gave way to sleet and later freezing rain, adding an icy weight to the accumulated snow which made life difficult for people out shoveling. At Philadelphia International Airport, snowfall topped out at roughly 9 inches - the most the City of Brotherly Love has seen since 2016, when a winter storm left more than 22 inches behind.

Philadelphia residents experienced only scattered power outages, but much like elsewhere in the country temperatures were expected to remain low throughout the week.

And much like in D.C., Philly took advantage of the wintry conditions. A viral video circulating on social media over the weekend showed a person drifting an off-road buggy in the empty, snowbound streets around City Hall, blasting "Man I Need" by Olivia Dean from the vehicle's sound system.

Further south in North Carolina, sleet arrived earlier on Friday and into Saturday, followed by more freezing rain Sunday evening as below-freezing temperatures keep ice from melting. Temperatures in the state, where Governor Josh Stein declared a state of emergency Wednesday, will warm up Monday afternoon before dropping for the rest of the week - into the single digits Monday evening, before remaining in the teens and twenties. Authorities expect travel to continue to be dangerous. 

The state's department of transportation pretreated roads in advance of the storm with nearly 4 million gallons of brine and spread another 100,000 gallons between Saturday and Sunday, along with over 32,000 tons of salt. On Monday, the department encouraged people to stay off the roads for at least another day.  

As of 9:30 Monday morning, over 33,000 people remain without power in the Tar Heel State. The state highway patrol said they have responded to over 600 crashes. Flight cancellations continue at the state's major airports: Charlotte Douglas International Airport has canceled over 380 flights Monday, down from over 1,100 Sunday, and Raleigh-Durham International Airport has canceled under 100.

But the weekend's winter conditions were not confined to the East Coast. In Denver, temperatures hit one degree below zero on Saturday morning, with wind chills bringing those figures down to minus 20 degrees. Snowfall, however, was less than expected - with predictions downgraded to just a few inches from as much as a foot.

The conditions prompted city officials to open warming stations for people experiencing homelessness and others in need of a place to get out of the frigid cold.

Similar facilities were also open across Texas into Monday morning. The state's emergency management division urged Texans to check on friends and neighbors amid the cold and to keep pets inside as much as possible.

The winter weather across the country led to several other deaths. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry announced Sunday that two people had died in his state from storm-related hypothermia. President Donald Trump said on social media that he had approved emergency declarations for a dozen states, including Louisiana, North Carolina, Georgia and Maryland.

According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the emergency declarations, which cover roughly 900 counties and four tribal nations, allow states to use federal resources to support storm response operations throughout the winter weather.

"We are working closely with FEMA, Governors and State Emergency Management teams to ensure the safety of everybody," Trump wrote on Truth Social Sunday. "Stay Safe, and Stay Warm!"

Courthouse News' Kelsey Reichmann, Ryan Knappenberger, Jackson Healy, Sydney Haulenbeek, Robert Kahn, Edward Ericson and Reece Coren contributed to this report.

Source: Courthouse News Service