Millions of people across the northern Gulf Coast braced Tuesday for a rare winter storm that's expected to scatter heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain around the Deep South as a blast of Arctic air plunges much of the eastern U.

Around 40 million people in the U.S. are under a winter storm warning from an unusual blast of severe winter weather.

A major winter storm that slammed Texas and the northern Gulf Coast is spreading heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain across parts of the Florida panhandle and eastern Carolinas