Snow and ice had ground road travel to a halt in some places and at least two people died in Texas. Many school districts had closed throughout a region unaccustomed to snow.

Snow was falling in New Orleans, where as much as 8 inches were expected to accumulate by the end of the day, threatening to tie a record set in 1895.

More than 170 million people across the United States, from the Mexican border to the Canadian border are under cold weather alerts ahead of a crippling winter storm expected to sweep through the south from Texas to Georgia,