About 240 million people were under cold weather advisories and winter storm warnings Saturday as a powerful system threatened to bring howling winds, flooding and heavy snow to the East Coast — including blizzardlike conditions stemming from a “bomb cyclone” in the Southeast, a forecaster said.

Greater Boston was largely spared from the wintery onslaught, as local meteorologists predict a slight warm-up over the first half of the week to maybe around 32 degrees during the day time before dropping into the 20s again in the second half. Emily McMinn, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Norton office, tells the Herald that overnight temperatures will remain “pretty brutal” and rarely rise above the low teens.

Western Massachusetts, including most of Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden Counties, as well as portions of northern Connecticut, is less lucky. The NWS issued a cold weather advisory for the region on Saturday as meteorologists see temperatures as low as -5 degrees and windchill as low as -15 degrees.

As for snow, Cape Cod and the Islands are expected to see the worst of it in Massachusetts, with 1 to 3 inches predicted to begin falling midnight Sunday and getting heavier in the day, McMinn said. Parts of Nantucket could see four inches.

While that maritime snow could dust the Plymouth and Gloucester areas, McMinn said she doesn’t expect much accumulation there.

Temperatures down the nation’s Atlantic coast were plummeting even as tens of thousands of homes and businesses remained without power from a blast of snow and ice last weekend that snarled traffic, knocked down trees, and caused more than 100 deaths. A low temperature of minus 27 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded Saturday morning in West Virginia, said Bob Oravec, lead meteorologist for the NWS in College Park, Maryland.

Parts of the southern Appalachians, the Carolinas and Georgia could see 6 to 10 inches of snow, he said. The Carolinas could see blizzard conditions stemming from the bomb cyclone, a term Oravec used to described an intense, rapidly strengthening storm system off the Southeast coast packing strong winds.

“Anytime you have cold weather advisories or extreme cold warnings, it is dangerous to be outside. Frostbite can occur,” Oravec said. “Especially in areas that have or are experiencing power issues still, prolonged exposure to cold weather is not good for yourself.”

In Myrtle Beach, South Carolina — whose official seal is the sun, palm trees and a sea gull — 6 inches of snow was expected. The city has no snow removal equipment, and authorities planned to “use what we can find,” Mayor Mark Kruea said.

Subfreezing weather was forecast into February, with heavy snow in the Carolinas, Virginia and northeast Georgia over the weekend including up to a foot in parts of North Carolina. Snow was also said to be possible from Maryland to Maine.

The frigid cold was expected to plunge as far south as Florida.

Temperatures neared the teens in Nashville, Tennessee, and frustrations bubbled up for those who spent a week without power.

More than 127,000 homes and businesses were without electricity, mostly in Mississippi and Tennessee, according to the outage tracking website poweroutage.us. That included more than 47,000 in Nashville as of Saturday morning.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said he shared “strong concerns” with leadership of Nashville Electric Service, adding that residents “need a clear timeline for power restoration, transparency on the number of linemen deployed, and a better understanding of when work will be completed in their neighborhood.”

The utility has defended its response, saying the storm that struck last weekend was unprecedented.

Mississippi officials said the massive winter storm was its worst since 1994. About 80 warming centers were opened, and National Guard troops delivered supplies by truck and helicopter.

Experts warned of the growing risks of hypothermia. Frostbite was also a concern in the South, where some people may lack sufficiently warm clothing, said Dr. David Nestler, an emergency medicine specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

More than 100 people have died from Texas to New Jersey, roughly half of them in Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana. While some deaths have been attributed to hypothermia, others are suspected to be related to carbon monoxide exposure.

In North Carolina, hundreds of National Guard soldiers readied to help and state workers worked to prepare roads.

Ice accumulates on utility lines Monday in Nashville, Tennessee. A massive winter storm is bringing frigid temperatures, ice, and snow to millions of Americans across the nation. (Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)