Weather forecasters and public agencies issued health and power loss warnings Tuesday as a “rare winter storm" gripped parts of the southern and eastern United States."A bitterly cold airmass will remain in place for much of the South and eastern U.

A historic winter storm swept across the Gulf Coast on Tuesday, bringing heavy snow and icy conditions to the Southeast while most of the country was facing dangerously cold temperatures from an arctic blast that arrived over the weekend.

A winter storm prompted a National Weather Service office in Louisiana to issue a first-ever blizzard warning. The storm is causing dangerous conditions from Texas to North Carolina.

Areas of the country that don’t regularly deal with freezing temperatures are now in the middle of a cold snap. Several states including Georgia and Florida are under states of emergency declarations because of the winter weather. A blizzard warning was issued for southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana, the first for that area.

Snow and sleet started falling in Texas as officials begin to close schools and airports. Snow and ice could bring major travel disruptions and power outages from Texas to Florida.

A winter storm was on a track to sweep through Texas and Louisiana, across the Gulf Coast and deep into Florida, significant snow and ice in tow.

More than 220 million people across the United States are facing dangerous cold that will also open the door for a potentially historic and crippling winter storm that could deliver snow as far south as Florida and the Gulf of Mexico.

Large swaths of southeast Texas and Louisiana and parts of southern Mississippi are under an extreme cold warning after a day of snow. Now, snow, slush and ice left on the ground will refreeze.

according to the National Weather Service. Many airports in the South and especially the Gulf Coast region were closed and states of emergency have been declared in Alabama, Georgia, Florida ...

Follow NBC News live updates for the latest coverage of the freezing winter weather affecting large swaths of the U.S., from the Midwest to the South.

Most of the United States is being assailed with extreme winter weather this week as Arctic air blasts south from Canada, snow tracks up the Northeast coast and a potentially crippling winter storm takes aim at the South.