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.

A major winter storm that slammed Texas and the northern Gulf Coast is spreading heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain across parts of the Florida panhandle and eastern Carolinas

Dangerous below-freezing temperatures with even colder wind chills were also expected to last over much of the week in the region. Authorities say three people have died in the cold weather.

A rare, historic snowfall blanketed parts of the southern U.S. on Tuesday, allowing residents to play in the rather unusual weather. Families went snow tubing in Houston. People made snowballs and snow angels. People were even seen skiing on Bourbon Street.

For example, Lake Charles, La., along the Gulf Coast, showed snowfall rates of over 1 inch per hour this morning and early afternoon and visibility down to a quarter of a mile with blowing snow. This is one of the reasons why blizzard warnings were posted briefly for that region earlier.

From Texas through the Deep South, down into Florida and to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, snow and sleet made for accumulating ice in New Orleans, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Florida and other major cities.