(Spirit Lake)– What started out as a spring-like storm has quickly turned into a full-fledge winter storm across northwest Iowa, southwest Minnesota and surrounding areas.
Rain quickly changed to snow by mid-afternoon today (Mon.) in Spirit Lake and quickly started to accumulate. Two inches of the white stuff had piled up by 7:00 p.m. and the snow was still coming down heavily.
Compounding matters is a strong northwest wind, gusting to around 30 miles-per-hour at times. It’s causing considerable blowing and drifting snow with very poor visibility in open areas.
Roads across most of the area are 100 percent snow, slush and ice-covered. Travel is being discouraged until Tuesday, when conditions are expected to improve.
The National Weather Service says two to four inches of snow could fall across the area by the time it ends early Tuesday. The wind is expected to diminish during the day Tuesday.
Many events planned for this (Mon.) evening have either been canceled or postponed. If you’re not sure about a particular event you should call ahead before venturing out.
The National Weather Service says another storm is expected to dump snow on the area beginning Wednesday continuing into Thursday.
Copyright GCI all rights reserved. Any republication or broadcast of this material is strictly prohibited.
