As the cold front moved southward Tuesday, it prompted a cold weather advisory for the Gulf Coast and pushed temperatures below freezing in El Paso, Texas.

Temperatures plunged into the teens and single digits in some spots, and the snow-dusted winds are driving the wind chill below zero. The polar vortex, a swirling mass of Arctic air typically contained over the North Pole, has pushed south, driving bone-chilling temperatures into the eastern United States.

A major winter blast is stirring up dangerous conditions across the U.S. central and southern states all the way to the East Coast