(Spirit Lake)– After mild temperatures the past couple of weeks, arctic air is returning to the region today (Monday) with a vengeance.
Snow showers have combined with northwest winds gusting to nearly 40 miles-per-hour to create white-out conditions at times in open areas.
Many schools throughout the region started late…only to call off later. Others, including Okoboji, started on time but wound up dismissing early. Okoboji dismissed at 10:30 a.m.; Spirit Lake will dismiss at 12:30 p.m. today (Monday).
Dickinson County Engineer Dan Eckert says county road crews were pulled off the road around mid-morning (Mon.) due to extremely poor visibility. He says most secondary, including gravel roads, were still open however as not enough new snow has fallen to cause drifts deep enought to block roads.
A blizzard WARNING is in effect for most of the region including the Iowa Great Lakes, until 9:00 p.m. this (Monday) evening.
