Ahead of what would typically be a normal morning commute, the National Weather Service in New Orleans warned that travel was perilous as ice and snow still blanketed the area. Many roads and bridges remain closed.

Improving road conditions and rising temperatures have allowed USPS to resume operations in New Orleans and surrounding areas.

ATLANTA — A rare winter storm charging through Texas and the northern Gulf Coast on Tuesday has closed highways and airports and prompted the first blizzard warning for southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana.

Metro New Orleans has received more snowfall since the start of meteorological winter than many cold-weather cities across the country, including Philadelphia, New York and Anchorage, Alaska.

The Gulf Coast city that rarely sees snowflakes has received more than double the snowfall that Anchorage has since Dec. 1, the start of the meteorological winter.

The storm prompted the first-ever blizzard warnings for several coastal counties near the Texas-Louisiana border, and snowplows were at the ready in the Florida Panhandle.

At New Orleans International Airport, the storm dropped 8 inches of snow, demolishing the previous record of 2.7 inches set on New Year's Eve 1963. Unofficial measurements across the city reported accumulations as high as 11 inches in some areas.

The NBA has postponed Wednesday night's game between the New Orleans Pelicans and Milwaukee Bucks due to extreme weather conditions in New Orleans. A date for the rescheduled game has yet to be announced.

Temperatures were gradually rising across the U.S. South, bringing hopes that the remaining snow and ice would melt away.

Officials are still tallying up snowfall totals that could set new records in states like Florida. Savannah, Georgia, recorded 3 inches of snow, which is the most the city has seen since 1989.

Refreezes are still possible the next two nights, but we'll be done with the ice threat after Saturday morning