A rare winter storm has brought snow and freezing rain to parts of the far south of the US, blocking motorways and airports in Texas and triggering the first-ever blizzard warning for southwest Louisiana.
The National Weather Service (NWS) said on Tuesday that the Gulf Coast, where even flurries are rare, would see historic snowfall, with at least 2.5cm of snow per hour expected from east Texas to west Florida.
More than 2,000 flights within the US were cancelled on Tuesday and another 13,000 were delayed, according to online flight tracker Flight Aware. Governors in several states, including Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, have declared a state of emergency due to the unusually cold weather.
The winter storm, which is now hitting the southern US, began in Texas on Monday night and is forecast to spread eastward through Wednesday morning along Interstate 10, the largest highway in the region.
The extreme weather, part of an extremely cold air mass that hit the southern and eastern US, is forecast to persist over the next few days.
About 40 million people, mostly in the southern US, have been exposed to some form of weather hazard, NWS meteorologist Mark Chenard told CBS News. Another 170 million people from the Rocky Mountains to points east have been issued extreme weather warnings and cold weather advisories.
By Tuesday morning, snow covered areas better known for hurricanes than blizzards, including the major cities of Houston and New Orleans.
Many schools cancelled classes and three Houston airports suspended flights. The National Weather Service warned that the rare storm could continue to cause “widespread” disruptions to air and ground travel for days even after the snowfall stops.
