Snow flurries are rare in US south – now a blizzard has hit

A rare winter storm is bringing snow and freezing rain to parts of the US deep south, closing highways and airports and prompting a first-ever blizzard warning in southwest Louisiana.

Video shows nuns and a priest enjoying a snowball fight in Matairie, Louisiana, whilst a skier is pulled along a street in Charleston, South Carolina.

Four people are thought to have died from cold exposure so far – two cases are being investigated as cold-related by Austin authorities in Texas, while two deaths from hypothermia were reported in Georgia and Milwaukee.

The extreme weather is part of a bitterly cold air mass that has descended on the south and eastern US.