Historic snow amounts could fall on Florida, Louisiana and Texas as a once-in-a-generation storm hits
Roughly 40 million people from Texas to the Carolinas are under winter weather alerts as a rare winter storm amid bone-chilling temperatures brings potentially historic snowfall to cities unused to harsh, cold weather.
• Historic storm underway: Snow is falling from southeast Texas through Louisiana and into parts of Mississippi and Alabama Tuesday morning and creating treacherous conditions. An area stretching from Houston into southern Louisiana has already recorded widespread 1 to 3 inches of snow, with a few locales topping 6 inches, and more is on the way. A record amount of snow is forecast for New Orleans and other cities along the Gulf Coast.
• Unprecedented blizzard warning issued: Heavy snow and strong wind gusts are combining to create whiteout conditions in southern Louisiana, where snow totals of 3 to 6 inches could be widespread. It prompted the first-ever blizzard warning anywhere along the Gulf Coast from the National Weather Service in Lake Charles, for parts of southern Louisiana and far eastern Texas.
• Widespread closures: Snow has closed or hindered operations at multiple airports in the South, contributing to the more than 2,000 flight cancellations into or out of US airports Tuesday. Large sections of Interstate 10 — the Gulf Coast’s major thoroughfare — in Texas and Louisiana are closed Tuesday as snow and some icy mix make travel difficult to impossible. Major roads were closed across the New Orleans area. Schools and government offices are closed Tuesday throughout the Gulf Coast and states of emergency are active in Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Mississippi.
