A rare winter storm charging through Texas and the northern Gulf Coast on Tuesday has closed highways and airports and prompted the first blizzard warning for southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana.

New Orleans has received more than twice the snowfall as Anchorage this winter — underscoring Southcentral Alaska’s meager snow season as much as the rare winter storm that pummelled that subtropical Louisiana city this week.

The storm that struck New Orleans this week left the Gulf Coast city under twice as much snow as Anchorage, Alaska has received in nearly two months. "New Orleans, we'd like our snow back," the NWS Anchorage office said.