A once-in-a-generation snowstorm, tied to the polar vortex event across the Lower 48 states, was plastering the Gulf Coast with record-setting snow and ice on Tuesday.Why it matters: This region isn't equipped to cope with heavy snow,

The first-ever blizzard warnings were issued near the Texas-Louisiana border Tuesday as Winter Storm Enzo blew through, bringing an estimated five inches of snow to areas in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.

A snowstorm warning was in effect for 31 million people - from southern Texas east through Georgia and north to the Carolinas and into Virginia - until Wednesday morning, the National Weather Service said.

A rare winter storm churned across the U.S. Gulf Coast on Tuesday, breaking snowfall records more than a century old in a southern region where flurries are unusual, as much of the United States remained in a dangerous deep freeze.