Bread was flying off the shelves, salt was being loaded into trucks, and utility workers were nervously watching forecasts Thursday as a huge winter storm that could bring catastrophic damage, widespread power outages, and bitterly cold weather was barreling toward the eastern two-thirds of the U.S.

The massive storm system is expected to bring a crippling ice storm from Texas through parts of the South, potentially around a foot of snow from Oklahoma through Washington, D.C., New York, and Boston and then a final punch of bitterly cold air that could drop wind chills to minus-50 degrees Fahrenheit (minus-46 Celsius) in parts of Minnesota and North Dakota.

Forecasters are warning the damage, especially in areas that get a large amount of ice, could rival a hurricane.

The storm was expected to begin Friday in New Mexico and Texas and then the worst of the weather will move east into the Deep South before heading up the coast and thumping New England with snow.

The cold punch coming after means it will take a while to thaw out, an especially dangerous prospect in places where ice and snow weighs down tree branches and powerlines and cuts electricity, perhaps for days. Roads and sidewalks could remain icy well into next week.

Freezing temperatures are expected all the way to Florida and lows in the North and Midwest will get about as cold as possible, even down to minus 25 or 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 32 to minus 34 degrees Celsius), forecasters said.

Winter storms can be notoriously tricky to forecast — one or two degrees can mean the difference between a catastrophe or a cold rain — and forecasters said the places with the worst weather can't be pinned down until the event starts.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency in his state like many other governors while acknowledging Thursday morning some forecasts have disastrous levels of wintery weather in Atlanta while others have the Deep South's largest city mostly spared.

"That line could move north or south depending on what the temperatures do and what that could throw at us," Kemp said.

Kemp said being prepared no matter what means where the line ends up won't matter as much.

"Go ahead and fill your cars up, make sure you've got the things that you need at your house to stay warm, and hunker down in case you lose power for a day or two," the governor said.

All 275 bags of ice-melting salt sold out at Bates Ace Hardware in Atlanta in one morning, manager Lewis Pane said. He has made special trips to the warehouse to restock but it's selling out everywhere.

Wendy Chambers stopped by the store to pick up batteries and flashlights in case there is a power outage.

"We're gonna be prepared, aren't we? We're going to be able to read, do things, play games," she said before heading to church choir with her granddaughter.

Brine trucks were already treating roads from Oklahoma to Tennessee with more states expected to begin treating roads as the start of the storm gets closer.

College sports teams moved up or postponed games, and the Texas Rangers canceled their annual Fan Fest event.

The city of Carmel, Indiana, canceled its Winter Games out of fear residents could get frostbite and hypothermia competing in ice trike relay and "human curling" in which people slide down a skating rink on inner tubes.