Christmas Blizzard?!?!

Another major winter storm is expected to impact the central plains beginning today, and continuing through Friday and perhaps into the weekend for portions of the eastern Plains.  Snowfall accumulations well over a foot are possible across a large area of Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and Minnesota.  Other areas may see significant accumulations of sleet and ice as well, mainly over parts of Nebraska and Iowa on Wednesday.  With snowfall beginning today over parts of KS/NE/SD, and continuing through Christmas day across areas of IA/MN/WI there is significant travel concerns.  It is likely that a large portion of major highways and interstates over these regions will become too hazardous to travel and may even become closed during the heaviest snowfall.  Winds are expected to increase as the low pressure system responsible for this winter weather strengthens on Friday, with winds nearing blizzard-like conditions over parts of NE/SD/MN/IA being possible on Christmas day.

I returned last night to northwest Iowa from moving a significant portion of my belongings down to Kansas City where I will begin my new job in early January.  Thus, don't have a good hold on how the models have been handling this system as their is some discrepancies in location of the heaviest snow.  Later updates today may hopefully define these areas better, and I will try and include a few quick model images or NWS weather stories for some graphical aids.

I will urge any of those likely do to traveling in this Wednesday through Friday time frame to carefully look at your schedule and your expected route, and either begin your travel today or wait until Saturday or Sunday at the earliest.  I expect their to be a large number of people who do not heed the warnings given on travel conditions and likely will make their Christmas even worse as they end up stuck on the roadways!