Snow, freezing rain and rain are underway in the southern Plains as a potent winter storm strengthens Thursday.

A powerful winter storm that dumped heavy snow and glazed roads with ice across much of Texas and Oklahoma lumbered eastward into southern U.S. states overnight, prompting governors to declare states of emergency and shuttering schools across the region.

A winter storm is moving across the southeastern portion of the U.S., bringing snow, sleet and other cold-weather conditions to a part of the nation not accustomed to coping with blustery temperatures.