Schools and buildings from Texas to Georgia were shut down Thursday or prepared to close ahead of freezing rain and snow forecast for much of the Southern U.S. as another burst of plunging temperatures and winter storms threatened to again snarl travel.

Schools as far south as El Paso, Texas, closed due to a polar vortex that has brought historically low temperatures and snowfall to parts of the U.S.

Storm Cora will bring a round of snow and ice to many southern cities, including Dallas, Atlanta, Memphis and Raleigh. Several inches of snow and some ice will fall from Texas to Georgia and the Carolinas through Saturday.