An area stretching from Texas to Tennessee braced Wednesday for the possible arrival of freezing rain and snow even as some parts of the U.S. hit by the plunging polar vortex this week began to shake off its icy effects.

As the cold front moved southward Tuesday, it prompted a cold weather advisory for the Gulf Coast and pushed temperatures below freezing in El Paso, Texas.

The next round of bitter cold is set to envelop the southern U.S. on Tuesday, after the first significant winter storm of the year blasted a huge swath of the country with ice, snow and wind

A huge swath of the U.S. was blasted with ice, snow and wind on Monday as the polar vortex that dipped south over the weekend kept much of the country east of the Rockies in its frigid grip, making many roads treacherous,