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,

Heavy snow is expected to blanket large portions of the Eastern U.S. while much of the country will endure dangerously cold temperatures in the coming days.

Most of the United States is being assailed with extreme winter weather this week as Arctic air blasts south from Canada, snow tracks up the Northeast coast and a potentially crippling winter storm takes aim at the South.