The plunging polar vortex brought subfreezing temperatures Tuesday to some of the southernmost points of the U.S., threatening to dump snow on parts of Texas and Oklahoma in the coming days and contributing to a power outage in Virginia’s capital that made the water unsafe to drink. In Texas, The Department of Transportation began pre-treating roads in parts of the state in preparation of the freezing temperatures. “Right now, we are making sure that our trucks are ready to go," Kenna Mitchell with the Texas Department of Transportation said. "We're putting down an early application of brine on some of our major interstates and highways. That's going to help us, if all goes as expected. It gives us a little bit of an advantage of the ice, preventing it from sticking to the roadway initially. That will help our crews get in there, start breaking up any of the accumulations and clearing roadways." She added, "“With a sustained event like this, there could be hazardous conditions that quickly develop out there. We're hearing everything right now possible from some icy conditions to some snow accumulations. So we're just having to take this all in right now and prepare for it." The arctic blast that descended on much of the U.S. east of the Rockies over the weekend has caused hundreds of car accidents, thousands of flight cancellations and delays, and led communities to set up warming shelters, including one at a roller rink. As the cold front moved southward Tuesday, it prompted a cold weather advisory for the Gulf Coast and pushed the low temperature in El Paso, along Texas’ border with Mexico, to 31 degrees (minus 0.5 Celsius), with an expected wind chill factor ranging from 0 to 15 degrees (minus 18 to minus 9 Celsius) early Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.