Dangerous below-freezing temperatures with even colder wind chills were also expected to last over much of the week in the region. Authorities say three people have died in the cold weather.

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.

For example, Lake Charles, La., along the Gulf Coast, showed snowfall rates of over 1 inch per hour this morning and early afternoon and visibility down to a quarter of a mile with blowing snow. This is one of the reasons why blizzard warnings were posted briefly for that region earlier.

A rare frigid storm charged through Texas and the northern Gulf Coast on Tuesday, blanketing New Orleans and Houston with snow that closed highways, grounded nearly all flights and canceled school for more than a million students more used to hurricane dismissals than snow days.

Officials in St. John the Baptist Parish announced a dusk-to-dawn curfew as a winter storm system continued to blanket the New Orleans region in snow. Residents are asked to stay of the roadways from 6 p.m. Tuesday until 6 a.m. Wednesday because of the hazardous conditions, according to the St. John Sheriff's Office.

Wednesday's game between the Bucks and the Pelicans has been postponed after snow from a historic winter storm made road travel treacherous in New Orleans.

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,

People across the Gulf coast are shoveling snow after a historic winter storm dropped a blanket of snow over the region.