Midwest braces for first snow of season

The first winter storm of the season in the Midwest is forecast to deliver a swath of snow from Iowa to Michigan Friday and Saturday. Light snow was already falling Friday morning in portions of Wyoming, South Dakota and Nebraska as the storm intensifies.

"The most likely area for a few inches of snow to fall is from central Iowa to northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin and into part of central Lower Michigan," said AccuWeather meteorologist Brian Wimer. Winter storm warnings were in place Friday morning for these areas.

While blizzard conditions are not expected, cities such as Des Moines, Iowa, Chicago, Milwaukee, Wis., South Bend, Ind., Grand Rapids, Mich., and Detroit will all likely see several inches of snow, potentially leading to travel problems and flight delays the weekend before Thanksgiving, AccuWeather predicts.

"Where it snows at night or snows hard during the day will be the places that have the most problems on the roads in terms of slippery travel," Wimer said.

Chicago could see 4 to 8 inches of snow Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.

It will be the first accumulating snow of the season for most of these cities, the Weather Channel reported. It's a bit early for the season's first snow in many of these cities, which typically don't see snow until early December.

Chicago hasn't seen a November with six inches or more of snow since 1978, according to National Weather Service data.

Snow has been sparse over much of the nation so far this season, especially when compared to last year. On Nov. 19, 2014, more than 38% of the U.S. was snow-covered, while Thursday that number was only 11%, mainly in the western mountains, according to the weather service.

After the primary storm passes, bands of heavy lake-effect snow will set up downwind of the Great Lakes in parts of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, according to AccuWeather. Lake-effect snow occurs when cold air flows over relatively warm lake water.

Once the snow ends, much colder air will spill into the central and eastern U.S., with temperatures some 5-15 degrees below average across portions of the Midwest, South and East on Saturday and Sunday, according to Weather Underground.

High temperatures Sunday will only be in the 30s and 40s for much of the north-central and northeastern U.S., the weather service said.

Low temperatures are likely to dip into the single digits, teens and 20s in parts of the Midwest, while some locations in the South will likely see their first freeze of the season Sunday or Monday morning, Weather Underground predicts.