A major winter storm slammed the southern US Tuesday, blanketing parts of the Gulf Coast with record-breaking snowfall in a region largely unaccustomed to extreme winter weather.

The heaviest snowfall in the Sunshine State occurred around Pensacola, where spotters reported measuring amounts of 5 to 12 inches through Tuesday evening. Due to the hazardous weather and a series of crashes, a nearly 70-mile stretch of Interstate 10 was shut down by the Florida Highway Patrol.

A historic winter storm swept across the Gulf Coast on Tuesday, bringing heavy snow and icy conditions to the Southeast while most of the country was facing dangerously cold temperatures from an arctic blast that arrived over the weekend.