A major cross-country storm is moving east, bringing thunderstorms to the South from Texas to New Orleans on Mardi Gras Day before heading to the East Coast on Wednesday.

The HBCU Legacy Bowl marks a major opportunity for this New Orleans native after a standout career at a small college in Oklahoma.

Powerful storms killed two people in Mississippi, tore the roofs off an apartment building and a nursing home in a small town in Oklahoma and threatened more communities across

Powerful storms killed two people in Mississippi, tore the roofs off an apartment building and a nursing home in a small town in Oklahoma and threatened more communities across

Powerful storms tore the roofs off an apartment building and a nursing home in a small town in Oklahoma, damaged a high school near Dallas, and threatened more communities

The winter storm could impact up to 170 million people across more than 20 states from the southern Plains to the Midwest and East, AccuWeather said.

Power outages skyrocketed as damage reports continued to come in Tuesday from several states as severe weather raced across portions of Texas and Oklahoma early in the day, and now the line of tornado-producing storms is charging east through Mississippi and Louisiana,

Blizzard conditions in parts of southern Minnesota made travel there dangerous Wednesday morning, the weather service office in the Twin Cities warned on social media. Heavy snow and strong northerly winds slowed travel across much of the Twin Cities, southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin, the weather service said.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch that includes New Orleans and Baton Rouge metro areas until 7 p.m. Tuesday. The threat of severe weather prompted New Orleans Mardi Gras parades to roll early Fat Tuesday and attention is now turning what is in the forecast this afternoon and evening.