Millions of people across the northern Gulf Coast braced Tuesday for a rare winter storm that’s expected to scatter heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain around the Deep South as a blast of Arctic air plunges much of the eastern U.S. into a deep freeze.

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 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.

An already active winter is about to shift into overdrive as a trio of storms over the weekend and into next week deliver snow to the Midwest, East and possibly as far south as the Gulf Coast.

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.

STORY: A once in a century winter storm is churning its way across the U.S. Gulf Coast, where snow flurries are rare.The National Weather Service said 31 million people were under a snowstorm warning on Tuesday - from southern Texas east through Georgia and north to the Carolinas and into Virginia.