Winter storm still on track for Thursday and Friday

QUAD CITIES, Iowa/Ill. (KWQC) -- Wednesday is the calm before the storm. Skies will gradually cloud up and eventually, snow will start to fly late tonight and early Thursday morning.

A FIRST ALERT DAY will go into effect at 6 p.m. Wednesday and continue until at least noon Saturday for a strong winter storm bringing a combination of snow, strong winds creating blizzard conditions and dangerously cold temperatures. Wind chills by Friday morning could be as low as -35°. Here is what we know. Snow will start out on Thursday and come to an end on Friday morning. This will lead to difficult and dangerous travel conditions.

We are confident in several inches of snow. Just how much snow is going to be hard to measure as winds will increase as the system rolls through leading to blowing and drifting. So after all is said and done we will likely end up between 2″-5″ in most locations.

Winds will pick up behind the system and gust close to 50mph. This will lead to white conditions and possibly blizzard conditions, regardless of how much snow falls. That’s right, it doesn’t have to be snowing for it to be a blizzard, just strong winds and low visibility for 3 hours or more.

This will most certainly have an impact on all travel leading to delays and cancellations. Start making your plans now.

As if winds and snow wasn’t enough, arctic air will move in leading to lows near 0° to -10° and day time highs 0° to 10°. This also means wind chills will be around -30º Friday morning. Stay tuned for more updates!

TODAY: Mostly cloudy. High: 25º. Winds: SE 5-10 mph.

TONIGHT: Snow showers. Low: 25º Winds: N 5-15 mph.

TOMORROW: Snow and wind. High: 27º.

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