Maps present snow totals in Florida, Louisiana, Texas and extra states throughout the southern U.S.

A uncommon and lethal winter storm descended throughout the southern U.S. on Tuesday, leaving inches of record-setting snow totals and halting journey for tens of millions of Individuals in Louisiana, Texas and Florida.

“I used to be born and raised in New Orleans,” Ian Spooner advised CBS Information 24/7. “I can rely on one hand what number of instances it snowed, and it by no means snowed like this.” The final time New Orleans noticed snow was in December 2004, in keeping with the Nationwide Climate Service, and it was simply half an inch.

Two folks have been confirmed lifeless in Austin, Texas, metropolis officers stated.

With a lot of the southeast underneath winter climate advisories, together with blizzard warning, this is how the chilly and windy situations are impacting the area:

Snow triggers flight delays

No less than 400 flights have been delayed and 350 extra had been canceled earlier than noon Tuesday, in keeping with the flight monitoring firm FlightAware. Airports in Houston and New Orleans had been shut down as snow piled on the entrances. 

A spokesperson for the New Orleans Aviation Board stated automated doorways had been shuttered so they do not open and shut throughout the hazardous climate occasion.

In Florida, the Tallahassee Worldwide Airport canceled all flights after 3 p.m. and suspended operations till a minimum of midday on Wednesday. The state’s governor and the governors of Georgia and Louisiana have all declared a state of emergency for the hardest-hit areas.

Snow totals map

In keeping with CBS Information meteorologist Jessica Burch, 4 to eight inches of snow have fallen throughout southern Alabama, Mississippi and Florida’s panhandle.

The state of Louisiana noticed a record-breaking snow complete of over 10 inches within the metropolis of Rayne. New Orleans noticed practically 9 inches of flurries. There are completely different snow reporting websites inside New Orleans, however the oldest data from a sub-station that is now not in service reported 10 inches of snow in 1895, and 14.4 inches in 1909.

One other reporting web site on the New Orleans Worldwide Airport, which started recording snow accumulation in 1948, reported their highest complete snow file as 2.7 inches in 1963. All that’s to say, nobody alive within the space has ever seen this a lot snow.

Movies posted by residents to social media confirmed not solely the quantity of snow however the velocity at which the snow got here down. The tough and unprecedented situations led the Nationwide Climate Service to subject its first-ever blizzard warning for southern Louisiana on Tuesday.

A Blizzard Warning goes into impact when an space is predicted to see frequent wind gusts over 35 mph, in addition to diminished visibility from snow.

Winter climate advisories and winter storm warnings are additionally nonetheless in impact for components of Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and the Carolinas.

CBS Information meteorologist Nikki Nolan contributed reporting.