Crews in Iowa experience snow, ice, freezing rain and high winds

(ABC 6 News) – Heavy snow and high winds are the story on the Minnesota side of the border. But in Iowa, it’s ice, sleet, and freezing rain.

Iowa seemed to get a little bit of everything during the winter storm from snow-to ice-to freezing rain-add in high wind speeds and you some unpredictable weather conditions.

“We have had literally periods of 15 to 20 minutes where it will be freezing mist and then it changes to snow and then it might go back to freezing mist so it’s really something that needs to be monitored,” Iowa DOT Field Services Coordinator Pete Hjelmstad said.

This could make treating the roads a bit more complicated.

“It depends on are you going to be putiting down brine to melt the snow, are you going to just be scraping it? Because sometimes if you put down brine and it starts melting the snow and it’s blowing the snow will just stick to the road,” Hjelmstad explained.

Depending on where you’re at in Iowa you may have different experiences.

Northwest iowa is getting the worst conditions of the storm.

“What we’re seeing up there is visibility, blowing and drifting is really, visibility is basically down to zero,” Iowa Dot Winter Operations Administrator, Craig Bargfrede said.

And that was during daytime, with it being dark outside travel is not advised.

“In extreme northwest Iowa travel is not advised and i’m assuming that’s going to work it’s way east,” Iowa State Patrol Tom williams said.

Iowa DOT plows have been out all day working to treat the road but the wind continues to blow the snow on roads.

Visibility is still an issue here but if there is one thing Iowa DOT can count on Thursday wind speeds are expected to decrease.