A winter storm sweeping through the U.S. South on Tuesday was dumping snow at levels millions of residents haven't seen before. Moisture from the Gulf of Mexico was combining with a low-pressure system and chilly air to drop significant amounts of snow in some spots.

BLIZZARD CONDITIONS ONGOING ACROSS PARTS OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS AND SOUTHWEST LOUISIANA... .A coastal low moving across the northern Gulf of Mexico is producing periods of visibility reducing heavy snow a

Seeing snow, and this much of it at that is a weather miracle for Lafayette, Chalmette, and Gulf Shores, Alabama. The Gulf Coast is seeing record-breaking snowfall across the board that people will reminisce about in the years to come.

“If we are going to rename things … this is the move,” Abbott wrote on X.

The cold temperatures are coming from a not uncommon expansion in the Polar Vortex, which are counter-clockwise rotating air currents that typically hang over the Arctic.

Joshua Wilson walks his dogs Caymus and Moose Tuesday, January 21, 2025, on Mall Street in Lafayette, La. For the first time ever, Lake Charles and much of Acadiana are under a blizzard warning as snow blankets the area Tuesday morning.

The latest on the once-in-a-generation winter system off of the Gulf of Mexico from the southernmost Blizzard Warning ever issued to near-record snowfall.

The Lafayette Parish School System monitors several issues when deciding whether to close schools in the event of severe weather, but safety is the No. 1 priority, said spokesperson Tracy Wirtz. "We want folks to know this is very much on our radar,

The southern U.S. may be known for handling some of the worst weather imaginable, but few would be blamed for being unprepared for the historic winter storm that blasted the region with snowfall not seen in generations.

A "Freeze Warning" is in effect across southern Arkansas, northern Louisiana, Oklahoma and eastern Texas, as well as in small parts of Arizona, California and Florida, with temperatures falling as low as 27, and wind chills expected to feel as cold as low as 13 in some areas.

A rare winter storm has triggered a blizzard warning in Louisiana, calls for record snow in New Orleans and transmission warnings for the Texas grid.