Pink is completely covered in snow. Blue is partially cover.

The winter storm has caused several schools and businesses to close, and conditions have deteriorated throughout the day. afternoon.

Plymouth County Sheriff Mike Van Otterloo says there’ve been no major problems thus far and he advises motorists to stay off the roadways.  “Everybody get home stay home — and things will hopefully continue to go well,” Van Otterloo says.

Van Otterloo says his deputies on rural patrol alter how they operate in these storms. “We get to a point where it’s dangerous for me to have my deputies just out patrolling,” Van Otterloo says. “We try to in these kind of conditions to kind of stay put and centralize and maybe even spread around the county — but stay stationary until we get a call — so we are not out there endangering the lives of our deputies.”

Van Otterloo says things get worse as the wind picks up. The sheriff says one local towing company decided early on not to tow anybody unless they are accompanied by a deputy because of the visibility.

The National Weather Services has issued a Winter Storm Warning and a Blizzard Warning for northwest Iowa through Saturday evening.

Check the latest driving conditions at the DOT’s 511 website.

(By Dennis Morrice, KLEM, Le Mars)