The snowstorm currently lashing the Gulf Coast is being described as a once in a generation weather event, the National Weather Service said Monday.

A historic, dangerous and deadly winter storm stretching over 1,500 miles is blanketing the southern U.S. with heavy snow, including areas of the Texas and Louisiana Gulf coasts under their first-ever Blizzard Warnings.

Around 40 million people in the U.S. are under a winter storm warning from an unusual blast of severe winter weather.

Snow, sleet and freezing rain are set to fall across parts of southern Texas, southern Georgia and northern Florida as the storm heads east Tuesday.

A winter storm dumped snow across the Deep South Tuesday, leaving areas that rarely see this kind of weather with dangerous travel conditions, widespread airport closures and snow days. Here’s what it looked like from Texas across Louisiana,