Locations in the Gulf Coast area with more snowfall than typical locations

A snowstorm for the record books covered Houston, New Orleans and many other towns and cities across the southern U.S. on Tuesday, breaking snowfall records that have stood for over 100 years. At least 11 people have died.

A snowstorm of historic proportions walloped the Gulf Coast this week, delivering travel-snarling snow from Texas to the Carolinas and breaking records that have stood for more than a century.

"Some residents in the Gulf Coast area have never seen snow and this could be a once in a lifetime event for them" said Steve Monday Chief Forecaster with Rowan County Weather

As a result of this storm, some popular snowy destinations and typically warm cities have been swapped. With 9 inches from this week's storm, Lafayette, Louisiana, is beating Chicago's snowfall for meteorological winter so far at 8.9 inches.

The snow accumulation at Pensacola (8.9 inches), New Orleans (8 inches) & Mobile (7.5 inches) are beating New York City, Sioux Falls, Des Moines, Albuquerque, Reno, and even Anchorage, Alaska, which has only racked up 3.8 inches so far in meteorological winter, so far, which runs from Dec. 1 to Feb. 1. Anchorage had more than 25 inches of snow in October and November.

Many weather stations on the central Gulf Coast, including New Orleans, Mobile, Alabama, and Pensacola, Florida, preliminarily set all-time snow records, and all-time state snowfall records were challenged in Louisiana and Florida.

A state of emergency was declared in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi with schools across the region closed and businesses shut down due to the snowstorm.

As the storm evolved and intensified along the Gulf coast, a blizzard warning was issued for southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas, including the coastline. This was the first time in recorded history that a blizzard warning was issued for the area

Snow arrived in the Florida Panhandle early Tuesday afternoon, covering beaches and stretches of Interstate 10.

By the time the storm was over Tuesday night, the state of Florida also preliminarily broke its all-time snow record for any storm, with 9.8 inches at Milton, located in the Florida Panhandle. This is the same area where the state record of 4 inches was set on March 6, 1954.

Rumbles of rare thundersnow echoed near Lafayette, Louisiana, on Tuesday morning as heavy snow blanketed the region. By 2 p.m. CDT, 9.5 inches of snow had been reported in Layfayette, with 10.5 at Rayne, Louisiana, the highest report from the state.

If confirmed, the 13.4 inches measured at Grand Coteau, Louisiana, could beat the state 24-hour snowfall record of 13 inches measured at Colfax in 1960.

In New Orleans, the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport recorded 3 inches of snow in just two hours Tuesday, with a total of 8 inches, more snow than any snowstorm in the city since at least 1948, when official records began. It was also the first time measurable snow fell in the city since 2009.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, New Orleans had several heavy snowstorms, including one that unloaded 20.7 inches on an unofficial station on Jan. 15-16, 1909, 9.6 inches on Nov. 14, 1906, and 10 inches on Feb. 14, 1895.

Gulfport, Mississippi, and Mobile, Alabama, last received measurable snow more than 10 years ago, in the winter of 2013-2014. However, on Tuesday, the regions turned white, with the Mobile Regional Airport setting a new preliminary all-time snow record of 7.5 inches.

The second-highest snowstorm total from the storm was 11 inches near Babbie, Alabama.

Beaches turned white as a rare winter storm with heavy snow and ice buried areas from San Antonio to Houston, Texas, and along the Gulf coast through the Texas Panhandle. While it has happened before, measurable snow south of Interstate 10 along the shores of the Gulf coast has occurred only a handful of times in recorded history.

For many it was the first snow they had ever seen in their lives. 

Though the treat of winter weather is not over for the region a warming trend is beginning to occur which will help to resume normal operations and ways of life.