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.

Winter Storm Enzo is spreading a rare bout of snow and ice along the Gulf and Southeast coasts, snarling travel and resulting in potentially historic snowfall totals for some locations.

A snowstorm warning was in effect for 31 million people - from southern Texas east through Georgia and north to the Carolinas and into Virginia - until Wednesday morning, the National Weather Service said.

A major winter storm slammed the southern US Tuesday, blanketing parts of the Gulf Coast with record-breaking snowfall in a region largely unaccustomed to extreme winter weather.

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.

For example, Lake Charles, La., along the Gulf Coast, showed snowfall rates of over 1 inch per hour this morning and early afternoon and visibility down to a quarter of a mile with blowing snow. This is one of the reasons why blizzard warnings were posted briefly for that region earlier.