Millions of people across the northern Gulf Coast braced Tuesday for a rare winter storm that’s expected to scatter heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain around the Deep South as a blast of Arctic air plunges much of the eastern U.S. into a deep freeze.

New Orleans' famous Bourbon Street was covered in snow during a rare winter storm that also impacted Southern states such as Florida and Texas.

The Weather Channel Meteorologists Jim Cantore and Jordan Steele report from Houston and Charleston as the winter storm works through the south. Video courtesy of The Weather Channel on January

At least three deaths were attributed to the cold as dangerous below-freezing temperatures with even colder wind chills settled in.

This expert says snowfall in the U.S. South shows'we can’t ignore winter' in changing climate::Houston, Texas:: Bob Henson, Meteorologist, Science writer“What happened this week in the Gulf Coast shows us we can't ignore winter either.