The heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain hitting parts of the Deep South came as a blast of Arctic air plunged much of the Midwest and the eastern US into a 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.