(CNN) — Millions of people in the United States are in the middle an exceptional cold stretch — one of the longest in decades for some — and it’s only going to get more brutal headed into next week.

More than 200 daily cold temperature records could be broken from Friday through Monday across the eastern half of the US as temperatures plunge further with a new push of bitter air.

Temperatures this weekend could drop more than 30 degrees below normal in spots, especially in the South and East.

The worsening of already deadly cold is harrowing news for anyone without access to power and shelter, not to mention the wallets of people paying to keep warm.

Last weekend’s historic winter storm and the brutal cold that followed have been blamed for at least 50 deaths in the US, the Associated Press reported.

More than 350,000 homes and businesses in the South caught in the cold’s vice-like grip have no power as of Wednesday, according to PowerOutage.us. Some have been without it for four days following the storm.

It’ll be a race against the clock to restore power here before even colder temperatures hit.

The worst of the upcoming cold will unfold Saturday and Sunday in Tennessee and Mississippi, two states hit the hardest by the storm. Each state had more than 100,000 customers without power.

Nashville, Tennessee, and Tupelo, Mississippi, are just two of more than two dozen Southern cities that could set records on Saturday for the coldest daytime temperatures for the date.

Nashville, where power infrastructure was particularly crippled, is forecast to only reach 20 degrees while Tupelo could approach 26 degrees. Those high temperatures are 30 degrees below normal for both cities for this time of year.