The rare winter storm that is hitting the southern portion of the United States became historic Tuesday morning when the Lake Charles National Weather Service office issued its first-ever blizzard warning.

Though NWS forecasters are still collecting official snowfall counts, these reports give a good look at just how much snow Louisiana saw.

A National Weather Service office in Louisiana issued its first-ever blizzard warning on Tuesday amid snow and strong winds.

Areas of Southwest Louisiana broke all-time record lows overnight Tuesday that dated back to the late 1800s. “It was quite the historic event for us,” said National Weather Service Lake Charles Storm Warning Meteorologist Doug Cramer.

A historic winter storm brought several inches of snow to Southwest Louisiana. Tuesday was the third largest snowfall event in Lake Charles’ recorded history, with an official National Weather Service measurement of more than 5 inches.

In the last of a series of calls held by the office to help local officials make decisions on closures and emergency operations, Cramer pointed to some data showing “quite the historic event” in terms of weather.

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.

A "Freeze Warning" is in effect across southern Arkansas, northern Louisiana, Oklahoma and eastern Texas, as well as in small parts of Arizona, California and Florida, with temperatures falling as low as 27, and wind chills expected to feel as cold as low as 13 in some areas.

New Iberia and Lafayette saw the coldest temperatures on record Wednesday morning. Lake Charles saw the coldest temperatures ever recorded in January.

Southeast Louisiana received historic amounts of snowfall on Jan. 21 as a winter storm swept through the South. Find out Louisiana's snow totals here.

Snow totals in Louisiana have broken records. Parts of Florida, Texas and Georgia have also accumulated several inches of snow.

The rare winter storm that is hitting the southern portion of the United States became historic Tuesday morning when the Lake Charles National ... southwest Louisiana, the weather service ...