Snow and sleet started falling in Texas as officials begin to close schools and airports. Snow and ice could bring major travel disruptions and power outages from Texas to Florida.

The snow storm could hit over a dozen states through Wednesday, including Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

A rare winter storm churned across the U.S. Gulf Coast on Tuesday, breaking snowfall records more than a century old in a southern region where flurries are unusual, as much of the United States remained in a dangerous deep freeze.

Heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain are expected around the Deep South as a blast of Arctic air plunges much of the Midwest and the eastern US into a deep freeze.