Louisiana isn’t known for extreme cold weather—but that changed Tuesday, when the National Weather Service issued its first ever blizzard warning for much of the state.

LAKE CHARLES, La. (KPLC) - For many in Southwest Louisiana, it was the most and the best snow they’ve ever seen, which explains the excitement at the Lake Charles Event Center where a humble hill became a recreational wonder.

The cold temperatures are coming from a not uncommon expansion in the Polar Vortex, which are counter-clockwise rotating air currents that typically hang over the Arctic.

Snow flurries are continuing to rain down in Louisiana as inches of snow pile up on the ground across the state, already exceeding some previous predictions for the maximum amounts

So far, Winter Storm Enzo has dropped nearly 2 inches of snow on Lake Charles, Louisiana. One resident shared video to X of the snow blanketing her backyard and her generator before dawn. All of Louisiana’s southern parishes declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm’s arrival.

A historic winter storm threatened natural gas shipments from one the biggest US export plants while heavy snow shut schools and airports in Houston and highways in New Orleans.Most Read from Bloomber

Houstonians, and most in the Gulf region stretching from Galveston to Lake Charles, Louisiana, woke up Tuesday with several inches of snow and subfreezing temperatures.

Joshua Wilson walks his dogs Caymus and Moose Tuesday, January 21, 2025, on Mall Street in Lafayette, La. For the first time ever, Lake Charles and much of Acadiana are under a blizzard warning as snow blankets the area Tuesday morning.

A winter storm was on a track to sweep through Texas and Louisiana, across the Gulf Coast and deep into Florida, significant snow and ice in tow.

Snow has started to fall in Southwest Louisiana as Winter Storm Enzo brings an Arctic chill through the south.

A winter storm was on a track to sweep through Texas and Louisiana, across the Gulf Coast and deep into Florida, significant snow and ice in tow.