The Gulf Coast is digging out from a once-in-a-lifetime snowstorm that struck from Texas to Florida, closing airports and crippling roadways.

At least a dozen people died in the weather, officials reported, with five people perishing after a multi-vehicle accident in Zavala County in western Texas on Tuesday, and at least 7 people dying from exposure to the cold in Texas, Alabama and Georgia.

Deadly low temperatures and snowstorms across much of the entire US reached into Southern US Gulf states on Tuesday and Wednesday, bringing areas of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida to a standstill and killing at least 10 people.

An historic January storm dumped more deep snow along the U.S. Gulf Coast on Wednesday after bringing Houston and New Orleans to a near standstill over the past two days and burying parts of Florida's Panhandle with accumulations more typical of Chicago.

In the New Orleans area, a record 10 inches (25 cm) of snow accumulated in some places, as Louisiana deals with a storm like they have never seen before

Prior to this week, the record for most snow in a 24-hour period in Florida was 4 inches back in 1954. What’s remarkable is that this storm featured sleet and freezing rain too, but it was still mainly snow that fell in Northern Florida.

“Just like hundreds of other meteorologists today, I am speechless,” one wrote, sharing a video clip of whiteout conditions on Pensacola Bay Bridge in Florida. The city of Milton, Florida, reported 9.8 inches – probably the state’s biggest daily snowfall on record.

The storm unleashed record levels of snow on three states and has halted normal daily life for residents. Millions of students stayed home and thousands of flights were cancelled.

Snow totals in Louisiana have broken records. Parts of Florida, Texas and Georgia have also accumulated several inches of snow.

ATLANTA >> An historic January storm dumped more deep snow along the Gulf Coast today after bringing Houston and New Orleans to a near standstill over the past two days and burying parts of Florida’s Panhandle with accumulations more typical of Chicago.

A major winter storm that slammed Texas and blanketed the northern Gulf Coast with record-breaking snow moved east Wednesday, spreading heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain across parts of the Florida Panhandle, Georgia and eastern Carolinas.

F lorida and other southern towns appear to have shattered snowfall records in what many are calling a once-in-a-lifetime chance to witness sandy snowscapes on beaches, of all pla