Weekend blizzard expected to bury northwest Iowa

Put away spring jackets and dig out your parkas this weekend as almost a foot of snow is expected to fall across northwest Iowa.

"We do have a winter storm watch for Saturday afternoon until Sunday afternoon, but that will probably change to a warning later on today," said Todd Heitkamp, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, Sioux Falls office.

He said the storm is expected to drop anywhere from 6 to 10 inches of snow.

"There's no doubt that we're going to see snow across northwest Iowa," Heitkamp said. "What is uncertain is the track of the storm. That will determine how much snow we will get."

Along with the snow, the weather service is predicting strong northern winds gusting to 35 to 40 miles per hour, Heitkamp said.

"It looks like travel throughout northwest Iowa, southeast South Dakota and northeast Nebraska will difficult at best Saturday night and Sunday," Heitkamp said. "There's no doubt it's coming, and we just need to be prepared and adjust our travel plans."

He advised anyone planning to travel in these areas throughout the weekend to definitely check on the forecast before heading out.

In this region late winter or early spring storms like this one are nothing unusual, Heitkamp said.

"This year it just seems like we have gotten more storms than in past years," he said.

After the weekend's dumping of snow, the weather service predicts a little warmer weather by Tuesday and Wednesday.

But that might not be the end of winter.

"Another storm comes in Wednesday night into Thursday," Heitkamp said. "It's looking more like a rain event than a snow event right now."