DES MOINES, Iowa – A dynamic weather system that brought Severe Thunderstorm Warnings early this morning will bring high winds and blizzard conditions to parts of the state through the day Wednesday.

A Blizzard Warning is in effect for northwestern parts of the state. Counties along the boundary are under a Winter Weather Advisory. There will likely be a sharp cutoff in snow totals and in areas that experience blizzard conditions.

While not everyone will see blizzard conditions, the high winds will spread across the state. For that reason, a High Wind Warning is in effect for the entire area. Gusts could be as high as 60 mph.

Snow will slowly move in across the state through the day. Snow will arrive earliest and last the longest in northwestern Iowa. By midday, snow will creep closer to Ames and Boone, followed by arrival in the metro from 2-4 PM. Eastern Iowa will see the snow move in by this evening.

Showers and storms are expected to persist through the morning in central Iowa as snow moves into northwestern locations. By the late morning hours, most of western and northern Iowa should see the change to snow. Snow will start to arrive in central Iowa by the mid to late morning hours. Snow showers should become more scattered and begin to break up as the system moves farther east into this evening.

Very heavy snow is possible where the intense snow band sets up. Northwest Iowa will very likely see over six inches of snow, with some totals near a foot possible. There will likely be a sharp cutoff from areas that see high snow amounts to locations that see very little. Most of central, southern, and eastern Iowa will see little to no snow.

High winds will impact the entire state, however. Gusts could very well exceed 50 mph through the day. This will make visibility near zero in locations that see snow and even make travel a bit challenging for areas without snow if you’re traveling in a high-profile vehicle. Some relief from the winds is expected by Thursday morning.

Travel will be difficult to nearly impossible across much of northwestern Iowa due to heavy snow, high winds, and very low visibility. Very little snow is expected across the rest of the state but falling and blowing snow could reduce visibility and winds will make travel more challenging for high-profile vehicles.

After today, weather conditions look much quieter heading into the weekend. Temperatures are set to return to the 50s.