Forecasters say travel could be difficult if not impossible across Iowa’s northwestern third tomorrow.
Blizzard conditions are in the forecast for some 30 counties with winds gusting up to 65 miles an hour and heavy snow of up to twelve inches in some areas.
National Weather Service meteorologist Alexis Jimenez says the storm front will start moving into Iowa late tonight and early tomorrow.
“We’re expecting that precipitation to come in after about one o’clock in the morning,” Jimenez says. “That’s going to be primarily rain and thunderstorms in the southeastern half of the state, and maybe some thunderstorms mixing in more on the north side, where there’s going to be snow, so that means ‘thunder-snow’ for those that like that.”
A major temperature shift is coming to the region, as highs today are forecast mostly in the 60s and 70s across Iowa, but the approaching storm system will bring in very cold air.
“Rain will gradually transition to all snow as we get into Wednesday morning especially,” Jimenez says, “and with those winds up to about 65 miles per hour, especially up there in northern Iowa, you can have some blizzard conditions pretty likely up there and white-out conditions are likely with that.”
Some areas may see snowfall at the rate of two inches per hour. Coincidentally, tomorrow’s the last full day of winter.
(Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City contributed to this story.)