Most of the United States is being assailed with extreme winter weather this week as Arctic air blasts south from Canada, snow tracks up the Northeast coast and a potentially crippling winter storm takes aim at the South.

A rare, potentially historic winter storm is bringing heavy snow and icy conditions across the Gulf Coast while most of the country is facing dangerously cold temperatures from an arctic blast that arrived over the weekend.

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