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.

Days after a winter storm dropped ice and record-breaking snow, cleanup efforts were underway Thursday in several major Southern cities such as New Orleans, where crews were removing snow the same way they remove trash,

A rare frigid storm is charging through Texas and the northern Gulf Coast, blanketing New Orleans and Houston with snow, closing highways and grounding nearly all flights.