A major winter storm slammed the southern US Tuesday, blanketing parts of the Gulf Coast with record-breaking snowfall in a region largely unaccustomed to extreme winter weather.

A winter storm prompted a National Weather Service office in Louisiana to issue a first-ever blizzard warning. The storm is causing dangerous conditions from Texas to North Carolina.

Temperatures could dip to record lows along the Gulf Coast and into the Tennessee Valley, the National Weather Service warned.

The snow storm could hit over a dozen states through Wednesday, including Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

Snow and sleet started falling in Texas as officials begin to close schools and airports. Snow and ice could bring major travel disruptions and power outages from Texas to Florida.

A powerful winter storm blankets the Southern US in snow, causing unprecedented disruption in New Orleans, Texas, and beyond. Record snowfall, flight cancellations, and power outages reported.

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.

Heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain are expected around the Deep South as a blast of Arctic air plunges much of the Midwest and the eastern US into a deep freeze.