(Spirit Lake)– A large, complex, and slow moving winter storm will likely cause some problems over the Christmas holiday and into the middle of the week.
For northwest Iowa, ice could be the biggest problem. Rain is falling through the day today (Sunday) with very mild temperatures for late December in advance of the system. But the National Weather Service says a transition to freezing precipitation is likely to occur as early as this (Sun.) evening, with a mixed bag of precipitation throughout the day Christmas Day, Monday night and Tuesday. By later in the day Tuesday, mostly light snow can be expected, with maybe an inch or two of accumulation before ending Wednesday.
Not too terribly far to the west, a BLIZZARD WARNING is in effect for portions of southeast South Dakota and northeast Nebraska Christmas Day into Tuesday. Up to 15 inches of snow could fall in those areas, combined with wind gusting to as high as 50 mph.
