Three die as killer Arctic storms roll into southern US as maps show where big freeze is headingheading

Three people have died after record levels of snow unleashed across approximately 1500 miles of the southern US Tuesday, blanketing large parts of Texas, Louisiana and Florida.

The rare storm, which prompted the first ever blizzard warnings for several Gulf Coast counties, came amid dangerously low temperatures and dumped up to four inches in Houston, nearly 10 inches around New Orleans and as much as eight inches in Florida Panhandle towns.

The snow that would normally not even phase communities in the northeast shut down highways, grounded nearly all flights and canceled school for more than a million students who are more accustomed to hurricane dismissals than snow days.

The wintry weather first moved across southwestern Texas early Tuesday morning, leading to a crash causing 'several fatalities' east of La Pryor, Fox Weather reported.

The storm then swept across major Texas cities later Tuesday, bringing snow and sleet to Austin and San Antonio before it strengthened over southeastern Texas.

In Austin, two people died from the cold weather, according to a statement from the city government. No further details were provided but the city said emergency crews had responded to more than a dozen 'cold exposure' calls.

Officials have also said one person died from hypothermia in Georgia.

Snow covered the white-sand beaches of normally sunny vacation spots, including Gulf Shores, Alabama, and Pensacola Beach, Florida.

The official record for snowfall in Florida is four inches, but unofficial snow reports across the Panhandle are well over that. The town of Milton has reportedly gotten 8.8 inches and Pensacola Beach has gotten about 6.5 inches. 

'We used to think Blizzard Beach was a theme park in Orlando,' Florida Governor Ron DeSantis quipped Tuesday. 'It turns out that we may see some snow on our beaches throughout northwest Florida and even into Tallahassee and beyond.'

DeSantis said the state has mobilized 250 Department of Transportation employees administer deicing chemicals and to man 11 snowplows.  

'Believe it or not, in the state of Florida we're mobilizing snowplows,' he added.

Alabama broke snowfall records that haven't been topped in over a century, according to measurements from the National Weather Service.

Mobile, Alabama, hit 5.4 inches and counting Tuesday, topping the city's one-day snowfall record of 5 inches that was set on January 24, 1881, and nearing its all-time snowfall record of 6 inches in 1895.

Over in Louisiana, transportation agency workers worked through the night to prepare bridges and roadways. Nonetheless, Louisiana State Police said they have already responded to more than 50 crashes Tuesday, and pleaded for people to stay home.

It was so cold in New Orleans that a city street froze over, allowing locals to play ice hockey.

There was an also attempt at urban skiing along Bourbon Street; a priest and nuns in a snowball fight outside a suburban church; snowboarding behind a golf cart; and sledding down the snow-covered Mississippi River levees on kayaks, cardboard boxes and inflatable alligators.

Weather areas included big cities like Jacksonville, Florida, which is expected to see snow, sleet and accumulating ice into Wednesday. 

The Jacksonville International Airport closed because of the weather Tuesday evening and said it planned to reopen at noon Wednesday. Schools canceled classes, and government offices were closed Wednesday.

'We are expecting some winter weather we're not used to in Northeast Florida,' the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office posted on Facebook. 

'The safest place you can be Tuesday night and Wednesday is at home'.

Nearly 2,000 flights to, from or within the U.S. were canceled Tuesday, with about 10,000 others delayed, according to online tracker FlightAware.com. 

Both Houston airports suspended flight operations starting Tuesday. 

Nearly every flight was cancelled at New Orleans Louis Armstrong International Airport, but most airlines planned to resume operations Wednesday.

The storm is now headed into as far north as North Carolina, but is mostly settling in South Carolina, Southern Georgia, northeastern Florida, according to current forecasts.

Extreme cold warnings remain in effect in most of Louisiana and in southeast Texas until 9am CST on Wednesday.

A state of emergency was also declared in at least a dozen New York counties with up to 2 feet (60 centimeters) of lake-effect snow and extreme cold expected around Lake Ontario and Lake Erie through Wednesday.

Santa Ana winds expected to return to Southern California.

In Southern California, where blazes have killed at least 27 people and burned thousands of homes, dry conditions and strong Santa Ana winds remained a concern.

The big freeze has been widely documented on social media, with one X user sharing a video of members of the public participating in a snowball fight on Jackson Square in New Orleans. 

Locals can be seen bundled up in winter gear as they laugh and lunge snowballs at each other. 

'Omg this is precious', one X user commented. 

Several social media users have been quick to comment on how rare the snow storm is. 

'For those who don't live in the south you just don't understand how magical a snow day is for us. It really is pure magic. We turn into a bunch of kids kike its Christmas morning!', one woman wrote after sharing a string on videos and pictures capturing citizens enjoying the snow. 

 Another X account shared CCTV footage of the snow storm in Florida:

'This is not Buffalo, NY, this is Pensacola, FL with near-whiteout conditions and heavy snow.

'This is perhaps the closest Pensacola has gotten and will ever get to a Blizzard in this generation...Absolutely incredible'.