SATURDAY SNOW AND STORMS...

A potent winter storm will be moving through the central U.S. Saturday. It will bring snow to parts of the Midwest and thunderstorms to parts of the southeast. Winter Weather Advisories and Winter Storm Warnings run from Kansas though Minnesota and Wisconsin. Flood Watches are down to the south where additional rain is expected, along with strong storms.

Models have been coming in slightly weaker with this storm. However, there will still be some decent snowfall totals and wind Saturday. Here's a look at the timing of the storm in the Midwest moving in Saturday afternoon.

The center of the storm will move near the Quad Cities, essentially cutting the state of Iowa in half. The northwestern half in the snow and the southeast in mostly rain. This is how the temperatures shake out for Saturday afternoon -

Temperatures will start off below freezing in parts of Iowa, Illinois and Missouri which will lead to the potential for a brief wintry mix. It will take time for moisture to work into the atmosphere, so I don't think the mix will last long. There are Winter Weather Advisories out for freezing rain and sleet -

Ice accumulation will generally be around 0.10" and will clear in the afternoon as temperatures rise above freezing and precipitation switches over to rain. Further to the northwest snow will be falling. Here's the latest from the National Weather Service in Des Moines -

And further to the north from the Twin Cities -

There is still some uncertainty on how far east the snow will get. Check out the latest projections from the GFS, NAM, 3km NAM and Euro -

There are some differences, especially where it concerns northern Iowa and much of Minnesota. I think the heaviest snow will fall in extreme north-central Iowa into southern Minnesota. As colder air moves in there could be a transition to some wet snowflakes further east, but accumulations should be rather light.

Much further south it will be a different day. All forms of severe weather will be possible in portions of the south -

Strong winds, tornadoes, hail and heavy rain all going to be a concern as this storm moves through. In between it will be plain old rain for the rest of the central U.S. It will be quite the day!

RK