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More Snow Expected Going Into The Weekend

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO/AP) -- Temperatures may be on the upswing over the next few days, but other aspects of the weather forecast may flake on your parade.

WCCO meteorologist Mike Augustyniak said though Wednesday morning dawned nearly as chilly as Tuesday did, with temperatures below zero but lighter winds, warmer temperatures are on the way. In fact, temperatures should swing between 20 to 30 degrees by later this afternoon.

However, Augustyniak said he is tracking the possibility for some snow to move in Thursday evening into Friday.

"Snow will build in from southwest to northeast," Augustyniak said. "It's going to keep snowing tomorrow night, Friday, Friday night."

By the end of Friday, the Twin Cities metro area could see snowfall totals ranging from 1 to 3 inches on the north side to 3 to 6 inches of snow throughout the southern portion.

More snow is expected to fall further south of the metro area, especially south of the Interstate 90 corridor, which could see anywhere from 6 to 10 inches. Northern Minnesota should only see a coating to an inch or two.

And that's not all. Augustyniak said this will be the first of two storms expected over the course of the next week, with the next one expected to possibly lead to more snow next Monday or Tuesday.

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Meanwhile, winter weather is looking to more directly affect areas well south of Minnesota. Hundreds of snow plows and salt spreaders took to the highways of the nation's heartland Wednesday, preparing for a winter storm that could dump up to a foot of snow in some areas and bring dangerous freezing rain and sleet to others.

Winter storm warnings were issued from Colorado through Illinois. By midday Wednesday, heavy snow was already falling in Colorado and western Kansas.

National Weather Service meteorologist Jayson Gosselin said parts of Colorado, Kansas and northern Missouri could get 10 to 12 inches of snow. Dodge City, Kan., was bracing for up to 16 inches of snow. Further south, freezing rain and sleet could make driving treacherous.

Officials feared the winter storm would be the worst in the Midwest since the Groundhog Day blizzard in 2011. A two-day storm that began Feb. 1, 2011, was blamed in about two dozen deaths and left hundreds of thousands without power, some for several days. At its peak, the storm created white-out conditions so intense that Interstate 70 was shut down across the entire state of Missouri.

"We're not going to see that type of storm, but it's certainly the most impactful in the last two winters," said Gosselin, who works in suburban St. Louis.

Tim Chojnacki, spokesman for the Missouri Department of Transportation, said it planned to have salt trucks on the roads before the storm arrived in the Show-Me State in hopes that the precipitation would largely melt upon impact.

Gosselin said sleet and freezing rain could make areas like St. Louis, southern Missouri and parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas more dangerous than those with heavy snowfalls. Ice accumulations could reach a half-inch in some places.

"Sleet is no fun to drive on," Gosselin said. "Especially if you get a couple of inches, which could happen. It doesn't melt, and it's very heavy to move. It's difficult to shovel, you can't really plow it and the chemicals don't work as well."

Much of Kansas was expected to get up to a foot of snow, which many rural residents welcomed after nearly a year of drought.

Jerry and Diane McReynolds spent part of Wednesday putting out more hay and straw for newborn calves at their farm near Woodston in north central Kansas. The storm made extra work, but Diane McReynolds said it would help their winter wheat, pastures and dried-up ponds.

"In the city you hear they don't want the snow and that sort of thing, and I am thinking, 'Yes, we do,' and they don't realize that we need it," she said. "We have to have it or their food cost in the grocery store is going to go very high. We have to have this. We pray a lot for it."

Meanwhile, a separate snow storm caught many drivers by surprise in California, leaving hundreds stranded on mountain highways. A 35-mile stretch of Highway 58 between Mojave and Bakersfield was closed Wednesday, and several school districts closed. No injuries were reported.

Schools also were closed in northern Arizona and Colorado with snow there. Mindy Crane, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Transportation, said hundreds of plows had been deployed for what was expected to be one of the most significant snow storms of the season.

Just the threat of snow had a big impact in Nebraska, where lawmakers cancelled Thursday afternoon committee hearings and University of Nebraska officials moved a Big 10 men's basketball game against Iowa from Thursday to Saturday.

Gosselin said precipitation is generally expected to drop off as the storm makes its way east. Chicago and parts of Indiana, he said, could get about 2 inches of snow and some sleet.

(TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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