Sharon Buske stood in line at a Dothan supermarket Monday and exclaimed, “I’ve never seen snow in my life----of course, only in pictures.”

Roughly 40 million people from Texas to the Carolinas are under winter weather alerts, as a rare winter storm brings bone-chilling temperatures and potentially historic snowfall to cities unused to harsh cold weather.

As people prepare for the cold, it’s essential to remember the four Ps. Those being plants, pipes, people and pets.

While there is definitely plenty of intrigue and even fun that comes with seeing the potential for snow like this in our area of the Deep South, there is also risk that comes with it and it is a risk that could come with major consequences if not taken seriously.

“We don’t normally get winter precipitation on an annual basis here in Tallahassee,” Felecia Bowser with the National Weather Service Tallahassee said. “That is definitely rare.” Some of those items people bought Monday included faucet protectors, pipe insulation, heaters and weather stripping to seal door cracks.

A second day of ferocious winds were forecast for Tuesday in Southern California where firefighters remained on alert and extreme fire weather raised the risk of new wildfires two weeks after two major blazes still burning in the Los Angeles area sparked.

Today will be partly sunny with a chance of morning flurries and extremely cold temperatures, with highs around 11 degrees and winds making it feel as cold as minus eight degrees, according to the National Weather Service in Wilmington.

We are keeping an eye on the weather and what some of our school districts may do after Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

While it won’t be anywhere close to bone-chilling cold that forced Monday’s presidential inauguration indoors, Southern Nevadans will feel the coldest weather in more than three years

Most government agencies will be closed on Monday for the MLK Holiday, but many also are closing Tuesday because of the forecast wintry weather.

The beaches even may see a wintry mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain, the weather service said, with the mainly snow expected.

A Cold Weather Advisory remains in effect until 10 a.m. Thursday for Washington, D.C., and portions of Maryland, and northern Virginia as a blast of arctic air settles into the region. Bitter cold wind chills between zero and 10 degrees below are expected.