Around 40 million people in the U.S. are under a winter storm warning from an unusual blast of severe cold weather and snow across the South.

After a statewide blackout in 2021 and a massive Austin outage in 2023, cold weather means energy anxiety for many in Central Texas.

Winter storm warnings remained in effect on Wednesday in eight states from Louisiana to Virginia. A blizzard warning was issued for the first time along parts of Louisiana's coast. Heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain were expected to continue Wednesday from Florida to North Carolina.

A winter storm that is expected to begin in Texas next week could end up bringing snow and ice to parts of Florida.

Houston was blasted with at least three inches of snow as a historic winter storm moved across the Gulf Coast and through the city. A historic winter storm will drop rare amounts of snow from Texas across the northern Gulf Coast. Many places will see their heaviest snow in decades, and modern day records could fall.

A powerful and rare winter storm swept across the South on Tuesday, bringing the first-ever Blizzard Warning to the Gulf Coast and blasting communities from Texas to Florida to the Carolinas with record-shattering snow that snarled travel and brought daily life to a halt.