Roughly 40 million people from Texas to the Carolinas are under winter weather alerts as a rare winter storm amid bone-chilling temperatures brings potentially historic snowfall to cities unused to harsh, cold weather. Here’s what’s happening now:

Residents across the country are bracing for dangerously low temperatures while the East Coast contends with a thick blanket of snow.

Several states were under either winter storm warnings or winter weather advisories from the NWS early Monday morning.