A winter storm warning has been issued for the Houston area for the first time in nearly two years as a rare Gulf Coast winter storm promises heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain. The National Weather Service in League City,

A major winter storm is forecasted to drop as much as 6-8 inches on some parts of southeast Texas starting Monday night.

A fast-moving winter storm will sweep across the US Northeast on Sunday, snarling travel and creating frigid windchills that linger into the work week, while Texas is bracing for plunging temperatures.

Temps have already plummeted across Southeast Texas, but the main story will be the chance of significant snow and ice later this week.

Southeast Texas' outlook for next week's winter storm continues to worsen, with a growing likelihood of a deep freeze and substantial wintry precipitation, snow and sleet in the Houston area. Space City Weather's Eric Berger published an atypical afternoon report on Friday warning of an "increasingly likely" and drastic mix of hard freeze and snowy conditions expected in Southeast Texas early next week.