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.

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.

A historic winter storm is expected to bring rare heavy snowfall and ice to states along the Gulf Coast and could impact as many as 55 million people through midweek, according to national

A rare winter storm churned across the U.S. Gulf Coast on Tuesday, breaking snowfall records more than a century old in a southern region where flurries are unusual, as much of the United States remained in a dangerous deep freeze.

Some areas of New Orleans and Houston got more than four inches of snow Tuesday morning in a historic winter storm hitting the south.

NEW ORLEANS -- Bryson Dawkins' 28 points helped Houston Christian defeat New Orleans 86-76 on Saturday night. Dawkins added five rebounds for the Huskies (9-11, 6-3 Southland Conference). Elijah Brooks added 13 points and five assists. Trent Johnson had 11 points and finished 5 of 5 from the field.

That's wild considering it hasn't snowed in New Orleans since 2009, and their last "big" snowstorm was in 2008 when 1-2 inches fell. Up to five inches of snow could accumulate in the Houston area. The all-time record snowfall in Houston is 3.0 inches, so this is very clearly a historic situation.

Houston Christian Huskies vs. New Orleans Privateers game with ticket info, start time, stats, odds and TV channel.

While Iowa is recovering from a cold snap with negative 30 wind chill, the state is running about 20 to 30 inches below average for seasonal snowfall.

Here's a look at snowfall totals from Tuesday's winter storm that blanketed Houston and parts Louisiana in multiple inches of the white stuff.

While snowfall is rare, when the needed conditions align, cities such as Houston, New Orleans, Jacksonville and Savannah can experience frozen precipitation, often in the form of sleet and freezing rain rather than snow. Any type of frozen precipitation ...

As heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain hit parts of the Deep South, a blast of Arctic air plunged much of the Midwest and the eastern U.S. into a deep freeze.