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.

The National Weather Service thinks that Alabama’s southernmost counties could see 3 to even 4 inches of snow. Snow is even expected along the beaches, according to forecasters. The rest of south Alabama will likely get 1 to 3 inches of snow as well.

The state has seen two outbreaks of winter weather that impacted north and south Alabama with several inches of snow.

Snow was falling in New Orleans, where as much as 8 inches were expected to accumulate by the end of the day, threatening to tie a record set in 1895.

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. Here’s what’s happening now:

A rare winter storm charging through Texas and the northern Gulf Coast on Tuesday has closed highways and airports and prompted the first blizzard warning for southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana.