By Rich McKay

ATLANTA (Reuters) -An early taste of winter is expected for the eastern half of the U.S. beginning this weekend, as a fast-moving storm system sweeping down from Canada clears a path for frigid temperatures as far south as Florida, forecasters said.

About 155 million people, from northern Great Plains to the deep South, will experience some freezing conditions through Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.

“The big weather story is this major cool down,” said Ashton Robinson Cook, a meteorologist with the service’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park Maryland.

The cold snap will bring the first snow of the season to the Great Lakes area, with Detroit, Buffalo and Chicago expected to get a dusting or an inch or two over this weekend, Cook said.

As the cold ai

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