Snow was falling in New Orleans, where as much as 8 inches were expected to accumulate by the end of the day, threatening to tie a record set in 1895.

Thousands of flights were canceled Tuesday and airports in Houston suspended operations as a winter storm hit Texas, Louisiana and other states along the Gulf Coast where snow is rarely seen. “They’re looking at snowfall amounts on the order of 3 to 6 inches,

The snow storm could hit over a dozen states through Wednesday, including Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.