Florida and Texas were both under winter storm warning from the National Weather Service (NWS) on Tuesday morning as an arctic air mass caused plunging temperatures and heavy snow along the Gulf Coast.

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

Weather forecasters and public bodies issued health and power loss warnings Tuesday as a “rare winter storm" gripped part of the southern and eastern U.S.

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.