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.

Around 40 million people in the U.S. are under a winter storm warning from an unusual blast of severe winter weather.

Florida residents from Pensacola to Jacksonville are bracing for what is expected to be a historic, once-in-a-lifetime winter storm with record-breaking, single-digit temperatures and an