IOWA — The first major winter storm of the season, which looks to more than double our snowfall for this winter so far, begins late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning. A Winter Storm Warning goes into effect for the southeast half of Iowa at midnight and a Winter Weather Advisory begins north and west of Des Moines at midnight. The Advisory and Warning will last most of Wednesday.

The snow will begin as a few light snow showers by midnight tonight and continue to expand in coverage through the morning. Some of the heaviest snowfall rates may occur between 5 AM and 7 AM in Des Moines. The snow will continue light to moderate in intensity through about 3 PM Wednesday.

As folks start to leave home around 8 AM Wednesday, we may have about 1 to 3 inches of accumulation at that time.

An additional 2-3 inches will fall through the remainder of the day taking totals to the 4 to 7-inch range.

This will not be the last of the snow. After a break on Thursday with sunshine and cold teens for daytime highs, clouds will return on Friday. Some scattered snow may begin to develop on Valentine’s Day afternoon and evening and could impact some folks’ plans to go out. The snow will continue through early Saturday morning. There will be another cold break in the weather on Sunday, but Monday does show the potential of another slight snow chance.

Get a full look at the most recent weather forecast update from the WHO 13 Weather Team here.