More than 4 million people across five states were under winter storm alerts on Sunday as heavy lake-effect snow continued to bury the Great Lakes region, prompting emergency declarations and the deployment of National Guard troops to rescue stranded motorists.

A lake-effect storm continued to blanket parts of the Great Lakes region with snow on Saturday, closing highways on one of the biggest travel weekends of the year and prompting Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York to declare a state of emergency on Friday in 11 counties.

The greatest snow totals are expected around Watertown in New York’s Tug Hill Plateau, as well as between Erie, Pennsylvania, and Buffalo.

Lake-effect snow blanketed swaths of the U.S. as Thanksgiving travelers journeyed home this holiday weekend, with more snow expected to fall over the Great Lakes region through the week. While the weather event dumped dozens of inches of snow in upstate New York,

The first big snowfall of the season has blanketed parts of New York, Pennsylvania and Michigan during the hectic U.S. holiday travel and shopping weekend.

The first big snowfall of the season blanketed parts of New York, Pennsylvania and Michigan during the hectic U.S. holiday travel and shopping weekend, with numbing cold and heavy snow forecast to persist through the early part of the week and cause hazards in the Great Lakes,