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Bitter cold and snow sweeping into the eastern U.S left part of New England under record snowfall and hit Southerners with subfreezing temperatures that farmers fear could destroy strawberries and other crops.

Four deaths were blamed on the cold in Tennessee. The deep freeze was expected to last for at least the rest of the week. The National Weather Service said the mercury could fall below zero in St. Louis later this week for the first time since 1999.

The duration of the cold snap is unusual, especially in the South, where the weather is typically chilly for just a day or two before temperatures rebound into the 50s.

Waves of Arctic air pushed into central Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, where farmers were scrambling to save strawberries and tomatoes as temperatures dipped into the 20s and wind chills into the teens. Hard freeze warnings covered the region Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.