SIOUX CITY (KTIV) – This blog will be continually updated by the First Alert Weather Team throughout the duration of the weather event.

4:30 p.m. update by meteorologist Cat Taylor

Good news, the forecast hasn’t changed much.

The start time still appears to be 6:00 p.m. for most of Siouxland to 8:00 p.m. for northern Siouxland. We’ll all likely see freezing drizzle by 10 p.m. Please exercise caution if you must travel as roads are likely to become very slippery as the evening progresses.

We have increased the forecast ice amount for Harrison and Shelby counties as they appear to be experiencing more severe freezing rain Saturday morning.

Our First Alert Weather Day remains in effect for Friday evening and Saturday. The predominant type of precipitation at this time tends to be freezing drizzle or freezing rain rather than sleet or snow.

Travel difficulties are to be expected, especially on country and/or unpaved roads, until late in the evening, if not then until morning. Even a tiny piece of ice is enough to turn untreated surfaces into an ice skating rink.

Sleet or snow may interfere at times. Any sleet or snow accumulation should be about 1 inch or less.

Temperatures will slowly rise overnight and into Saturday, but they are expected to remain at or just below freezing in most areas. Our far south counties could quickly see regular rainfall if temperatures rise above 32 degrees.

For a complete look at the forecast, tune in to KTIV News 4 for updates at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.

8:30am update by meteorologist Jacob Howard

A winter weather advisory was issued Friday afternoon through most of Saturday.

We have issued an initial weather alert for Friday night and Saturday.

Accumulation of sleet and snow is expected to remain below 1 inch.

At this point, there is enough evidence to suggest that we could see 0.10 to 0.20 inches of ice accumulation across a large portion of the KTIV viewing area.

The overall modeled values ​​tended to be slightly higher with each data set. So keep in mind that this map is subject to change later on Friday.

This is a typical case of “overflow,” where warm air from the south slides over a thinner, denser layer of cold air.

This leads to some difficulties in predicting the thickness of the cold layer near the ground. A very small change in this thickness can make the difference between sleet and freezing rain.

If the cold air is a little deeper than currently forecast, we could see an accumulation of sleet rather than ice.

A heavier accumulation of sleet or snow instead of freezing rain would be the “best-case scenario” because sleet and snow are easily removed from roads. But at this point, freezing drizzle seems to be the most consistent signal.

Travel problems are quite likely, especially on country roads or unpaved roads.

The start time is difficult, the southern parts of Siouxland will see precipitation first, in places like Norfolk, Tekamah or Denison as early as the afternoon. Arrival time on the Sioux City subway is expected to be between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. Northern locations will have a later start time, closer to 10:00 p.m.

Below is what the radar might look like at 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.

Heavier freezing rain or sleet showers will occur after midnight and into early Saturday.

This is what our radar could look like at 1 a.m. and 9 a.m. on Saturday.

Precipitation is expected to end from west to east by Saturday afternoon.

Depending on how the roads are treated or not, travel problems could last until Sunday morning. Luckily, temperatures will warm to over 40 degrees Sunday afternoon, likely melting most of the accumulation.

Please stay tuned and check back with us regularly for updates. You can download the KTIV First Alert Weather App directly to your phone for alerts and notifications directly from the First Alert Weather Team.

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