Footage taken from a car window near El Paso, Texas, shows the usually arid desert blanketed in snow as the West and Southwest of the United States are hit by cold weather
The video, taken from the window of a car, shows the usually dry and arid plains covered in white near El Paso amid the big freeze in the desert.
In improbable scenes snow has fallen on the Grand Canyon and cactuses in the Arizona desert this week, as temperatures dropped below freezing in the West and Southwest.
Today the National Weather Service issued a freeze warning for the desert in California where temperatures were tipped to drop as low as 25F overnight.
The footage from the car was posted online by a Twitter user called Marcus.
It shows vegetation by the side of the road dusted in white, with a layer of snow on the ground and on the roofs of nearby buildings.
The average January temperature in El Paso is 45F, with the usual minimum temperature still above freezing, according to the National Weather Service.
However temperatures in the area on Wednesday night were measured below freezing at 29F.
Freezing Fog captured on camera in Texas
In the summer the area has previously witnessed temperatures as high as 112F.
The overnight low was 30F for the first time in five years in parts of the region and more cold temperatures are expected today.
Albuquerque saw heavy snowfall and icy roads that caused many government agencies and schools to close.
The National Weather Service has also issued a freeze warning in the Nevada county where Las Vegas is located.
Snow fell and stuck Tuesday on a desert highway over a mountain just 20 minutes outside of Sin City.
Meanwhile Nogales, an Arizona city on the Mexico border, had about 6 inches of snow, he said.
The cold weather and snow is 'quite uncommon' for the area, National Weather Service meteorologist Glenn Lader said.
Warning of more cold weather to come, the NWS said: 'The next weather system will push across northern and central Nevada Saturday evening through Monday.
The system is expected to produce mainly snow showers across the region with snow levels at the valley floors.
'Accumulations at this time look to be an inch or less in the valleys with an inch or two in the mountains.'
© Cory DavisSnow covered road in Snyder
Comment: Related article: Snow on saguaros: Desert cities in US Southwest see freeze