Snow covered the white-sand beaches of normally sunny vacation spots, including Gulf Shores, Alabama, and Pensacola Beach, Florida. The heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain hitting parts of the Deep South came as a blast of Arctic air plunged much of the Midwest and the eastern U.S. into a deep freeze.

A major winter storm prompts blizzard warnings, dumping heavy snow and sleet in a region where even flurries are a rare sight.

A rare winter storm churned across the U.S. Gulf Coast on Tuesday, bringing heavy snow, ice and wind gusts to a region where flurries are unusual, while much of the United States remained in a deep freeze.