The storm prompted the first-ever blizzard warnings for several coastal counties near the Texas-Louisiana border, and snowplows were at the ready in the Florida Panhandle.

As heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain hit parts of the Deep South, a blast of Arctic air plunged much of the Midwest and the eastern U.S. into a deep freeze.

A rare winter storm churned across the U.S. Gulf Coast on Tuesday, breaking snowfall records more than a century old in a southern region where flurries are unusual, as much of the United States remained in a dangerous deep freeze.

A rare winter storm charging through Texas and the northern Gulf Coast on Tuesday has closed highways and airports and prompted the first blizzard warning for southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana.

A rare winter storm charging through Texas and the northern Gulf Coast left New Orleans and Houston frozen Tuesday.

A rare, historic snowfall blanketed parts of the southern U.S. on Tuesday, allowing residents to play in the rather unusual weather. Families went snow tubing in Houston. People made snowballs and snow angels. People were even seen skiing on Bourbon Street.

A rare frigid storm is charging through Texas and the northern Gulf Coast, blanketing New Orleans and Houston with snow, closing highways and grounding nearly all flights.