On Friday, we drove from Ohio to Louisville, Kentucky and it took us 11 hrs. to do what is normally a 4.5 to 5 hour drive, and we were lucky. There was a section of motorway that we got stuck in that was blocked both north and south all day. In fact, the north bound was block all the next day too. We manage to get off after a few hours because we were just about 1/10 of a mile from an exit and as others were choosing to break away and drive down the shoulder, it became an open space next to us, which allowed us to do so as well.
Of course, once off there were more problems to contend with, because semi trucks were also going on these small roads that were not designed to take their size and were terribly slippery causing them to slide off these narrow roads, further blocking many routs out. It was a disaster in some places. There were sections of the county in Ohio that put out a level 3 safety warning. That meant, no one other than essential and emergency vehicles were allowed on the road. If you just wanted to drive somewhere and were caught doing so, you would be arrested.
We saw dozens and dozens of cars but more often semitrucks that had slid off the road as well as tipped over into ditches, along our drive south of well over 300 miles. Thankfully I spent more than half my life driving in snow conditions and some very bad conditions over the years living in Austria and also Colorado, so driving in this was just a drive but of course knowing how to drive is what kept us safe. Thankfully no idiot smashed into us, because we can't be protected from the idiots who were out there driving, that is my biggest worry in such conditions.
As for those few saying this was just another winter day, maybe in their area, but in other states, it was terrible conditions to be out in. The storm hit overnight between Thursday and Friday for us. At 1am on Friday morning the temp was 49F and by 9am we had -9F with wind gusts up to 60+mph making the real feel temperature around -40F or -40C. The news was reporting that it was the greatest drop in temp in history, for a one day period.
The high winds and snow fall made it total white out conditions for many seconds at a time, on many sections of the drive. Driving at maybe 40mph on a Freeway/Motorway in blowing snow being able to see the road and then suddenly you can't see ten feet in front of you, for several seconds as a huge wind gust blew up snow from the adjacent open fields, was a little nerve wracking. Especially when it would actually cause your car to move a little sideway on the slippery roads, as you drove.