Though NWS forecasters are still collecting official snowfall counts, these reports give a good look at just how much snow Louisiana saw.

The cold temperatures are coming from a not uncommon expansion in the Polar Vortex, which are counter-clockwise rotating air currents that typically hang over the Arctic.

ATLANTA — 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 National Weather Service office in Louisiana issued its first-ever blizzard warning on Tuesday amid snow and strong winds.

The Interstate 10 closure spanned nearly the entire state, ending west of the Mississippi state line east of New Orleans. Meanwhile, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) had deployed crews traveling in both directions to treat the interstate's surfaces in an effort to restore normal traffic flow.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said the state is facing potential record snowfall that could close Mississippi River bridges from Baton Rouge to New Orleans.

Schools are closed, snow is falling in places where it usually doesn't and freezing temperatures are sweeping across the South as a winter storm tracks across states including Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi,

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.

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.

After a historic winter storm hit the Interstate 10 corridor on Tuesday, parts of the vital east-west artery remain closed due to icy road conditions in

Interstate 10 reopened to westbound traffic from I-49 in Lafayette to the Texas border, the Department of Transportation and Development announced mid-afternoon Wednesday. The update comes after a historic winter storm brought several inches of snow to the gulf coast and shut down most of I-10 between Texas and Mississippi.

New Orleans and Lake Charles in harm's way as snow begins to fall early Tuesday morning and continues for about 12 hours. "The impacts there are going to be crippling," Grymes said. "Louisiana ...