A major winter storm that slammed Texas and the northern Gulf Coast is spreading heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain across parts of the Florida panhandle and eastern Carolinas.

Arctic air grips the central and eastern U.S., bringing record-breaking cold, dangerous wind chills, and historic snowfall. Newsweek's live blog is closed.

A historic and deadly winter storm that stretches over 1,500 miles blanketed the southern U.S. on Tuesday with historic snow totals, including the first-ever Blizzard Warning for the Gulf Coast.

Snow started falling on Monday across the Lone Star State because it wasn’t until Tuesday that records across the Gulf Coast were smashed. New Orleans officially recorded 8" of snow with plenty of reports of 8-12" around the Big Easy.

In the New Orleans area, a record 10 inches (25 cm) of snow accumulated in some places, as Louisiana deals with a storm like they have never seen before

Snow totals in Louisiana have broken records. Parts of Florida, Texas and Georgia have also accumulated several inches of snow.

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

ATLANTA >> An historic January storm dumped more deep snow along the Gulf Coast today after bringing Houston and New Orleans to a near standstill over the past two days and burying parts of Florida’s Panhandle with accumulations more typical of Chicago.

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

Speculation continued to bubble on Friday about the possibility of south Alabama (even the Florida Panhandle ... can't be ruled out in Houston, New Orleans, and Tallahassee.

Winter storm will bring heavy rain to Panhandle ... "The downpours from Houston to New Orleans and perhaps Mobile, Alabama, and Pensacola, Florida, can be heavy enough to trigger urban flooding ...