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.

Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida also under winter storm warnings: snow, sleet, freezing rain, icy conditions expected - Anadolu Ajansı

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.