A rare frigid storm charged through Texas and the northern Gulf Coast on Tuesday, blanketing New Orleans and Houston with snow, closing highways, grounding nearly all flights and canceling school for millions of students more used to hurricane dismissals than snow days.

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday declared a state of emergency as the Panhandle and other parts of North Florida get hit with frigid weather and face the possibility of snow and ice. Frigid temperatures engulfed the South on Monday ahead of a winter storm that’s expected to spread heavy snow and disruptive ice around a region that rarely sees such weather,

It is the first time in history that blizzard warnings are in effect along parts of the Gulf Coast from Texas into Louisiana.