A Blizzard Warning has been issued by the National Weather Service office in Lake Charles, Louisiana for portions of coastal Louisiana. After a little bit of digging, I'm not sure this office and these parishes in southern have ever seen a blizzard warning. A blizzard warning is issued when a combination of heavy snow and sustained high winds are expected to cause reduced visibility below 1/4 mile for a period of 3 hours or more.
Winter Storm Warnings stretch from Texas to the Carolinas on Tuesday morning, with bitterly cold Arctic air spilling into near the entirety of the CONUS.
As of 6 AM CT on Tuesday morning, heavy snow was falling in southern metros like San Antonio and Houston, TX with snow falling at the National Weather Service office in New Orleans, Louisiana. Strong northerly winds being drawn into a coastal low over the Gulf of Mexico are responsible for the blizzard warnings wind induced blowing & drifting.
Blizzard/white-out conditions were visible in Lake Charles, Louisiana on the I-20 DOT webcam:
The other troubling pocket that I'm watching as the storm continues north and east over the next 24 hours is the potential for freezing rain and ice accumulations in southern Georgia and northern Florida. Could this area see rare Ice Storm Warnings issued?
As exciting as it is to watch rare weather events unfold, it's important to remember the infrastructure is not meant to support winter weather of this magnitude. While I hope many are able to enjoy a brief winter wonderland, there will undoubtedly be issues with travel/highway shut-downs, accidents, while buildings and infrastructure not built to withstand long-duration periods of sub-freezing temperatures deal with burst pipes and power grid strains / power outages.