"It looked like it was about two miles away from us," Saraceno said. "I put the pedal to the floor to try and get out of harm's way, but it seemed to be getting closer and closer."

Panicked, Saraceno got off the interstate near the town of Chickasaw, drove in a different direction and turned around to go home.

Mississippi remained under a state of emergency Friday, with 12 counties reporting storm damage. Nearly 60 homes were destroyed in those counties, and 22 injuries were reported.

Winter wonderland in Dallas

For others, the winter storm system brought a rare white Christmas.

In Dallas, some residents had to change from short sleeves to winter coats on Tuesday, as temperatures plummeted from the 60s to the low 20s in one day.

"We knew it was going to be a white Christmas in Dallas this year as per the weather advisory, but were not aware it will turn out to be so beautiful and freezing cold," Shail Bhatt said.

It's not often that Dallas gets more snow than Chicago, but that's what happened this week.