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.

So many of you have never seen an event like this,” Louisiana’s state climatologist warned, with New Orleans facing possibly the most snow it has ever seen.

Roughly 40 million people from Texas to the Carolinas are under winter weather alerts, as a rare winter storm brings bone-chilling temperatures and potentially historic snowfall to cities unused to harsh cold weather.

Temperatures could dip to record lows along the Gulf Coast and into the Tennessee Valley, the National Weather Service warned.

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

Most cities in the region don't have snowplows. Louisiana had 400,000 pounds of salt ready to spread over roads and bridges in preparation for the icy conditions.

Snowfall Tuesday is imminent and accumulation could reach as high as 5 inches for some areas along the coast.While it is difficult to forecast accumulation, an