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

A historic winter storm swept across the Gulf Coast on Tuesday, bringing heavy snow and icy conditions to the Southeast while most of the country was facing dangerously cold temperatures from an arctic blast that arrived over the weekend.

A historic, dangerous and deadly winter storm stretching over 1,500 miles is blanketing the southern U.S. with heavy snow, including areas of the Texas and Louisiana Gulf coasts under their first-ever Blizzard Warnings.