Coastal Alabama and the Florida Panhandle enjoyed a rare southern snowstorm Tuesday that delighted children with snow angels and powdery play in a scene felt plucked from a Hallmark Christmas movie. But the joy of tramping through fresh snow quickly gave way Wednesday to the icy realization that roads remain impassable,

From Texas through the Deep South, down into Florida and to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, snow and sleet made for accumulating ice in New Orleans, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Florida and other major cities.

A major winter storm that slammed Texas and the northern Gulf Coast is spreading heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain across parts of the Florida panhandle and eastern Carolinas