A powerful and rare winter storm swept across the South on Tuesday, bringing the first-ever Blizzard Warning to the Gulf Coast and blasting communities from Texas to Florida to the Carolinas with record-shattering snow that snarled travel and brought daily life to a halt.

A rare winter storm charging through Texas and the northern Gulf Coast on Tuesday has closed highways and airports and prompted the first blizzard warning for southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana.

Latest updates on Houston's winter storm: road closures, power outages, school and business closures and more.

Houston's two airports reopened after being closed for 24 hours because of the winter storm. Now, airline passengers are trying to get things back on track.

A woman killed in a car crash and a man found dead in a Katy parking lot were the first deaths reported in connection to the historic January storm.

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.