A historic winter storm swept across the Gulf Coast on Tuesday, bringing heavy snow and icy conditions to the Southeast while most of the country was facing dangerously cold temperatures from an arctic blast that arrived over the weekend.

A powerful and rare winter storm swept across the South on Tuesday, bringing the first-ever Blizzard Warning to the Gulf Coast and blasting communities from Texas to Florida to the Carolinas with record-shattering snow that snarled travel and brought daily life to a halt.

A historic, dangerous and deadly winter storm stretching over 1,500 miles is blanketing the southern U.S. with heavy snow, including areas of the Texas and Louisiana Gulf coasts under their first-ever Blizzard Warnings.

Around 40 million people in the U.S. are under a winter storm warning from an unusual blast of severe winter weather.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A major winter storm that slammed Texas and blanketed the northern Gulf Coast with record-breaking snow moved east Wednesday, spreading heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain across parts of the Florida Panhandle, Georgia and eastern Carolinas.

A historic and deadly winter storm that stretches over 1,500 miles blanketed the southern U.S. on Tuesday with historic snow totals, including the first-ever Blizzard Warning for the Gulf Coast.

Snow, sleet and freezing rain are set to fall across parts of southern Texas, southern Georgia and northern Florida as the storm heads east Tuesday.