Brutal cold and blizzard conditions coming to North Iowa

DES MOINES –  A blizzard watch and winter weather advisory are in effect for the North Iowa area into early next week.

The National Weather Service is predicting up to four inches of snow Saturday night, followed by another period of dangerous travel conditions and extreme cold weather is from Sunday through Tuesday. Wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour may be common, causing blowing and drifting snow and white-out conditions Sunday.

Travel is not advised unless absolutely necessary.

– Tonight: Snow, mainly after 9pm. Temperature rising to around 19 by 5am. Wind chill values as low as -5. West wind 6 to 14 mph becoming southeast after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible.

– Sunday: A chance of snow before noon, then snow likely with widespread blowing snow after noon. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 29. Wind chill values as low as -5. Very windy, with a west wind 13 to 23 mph increasing to 26 to 36 mph. Winds could gust as high as 55 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.

– Sunday Night Widespread blowing snow and a slight chance of snow before midnight, then widespread blowing snow after midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low around -14. Wind chill values as low as -40. Very windy, with a northwest wind 33 to 38 mph decreasing to 25 to 30 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 50 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

– Monday Mostly sunny and cold, with a high near -10. Windy, with a northwest wind 20 to 24 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph.