Streak of no snow may come to end

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Hopefully you took one last look at the dry streets and brown landscape Wednesday.

Winter is expected to make a curtain call Thursday, but Spencer may have caught a break as forecasters shifted the heart of a winter storm north.

Earlier Wednesday, Spencer was under a winter storm watch; snow totals of about 4 inches were expected.

"It's going to move across South Dakota and Nebraska overnight and toward (Thursday) morning we will expect to see at least a brief period of freezing rain into the northwest Iowa-Spencer vicinity," said Shawn Liebl, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls, S.D. "Then we could see freezing rain begin to change over to snow by later into the morning hours. We are expecting snow to become heavy at times."

At about 3:15 p.m., a few hours after Liebl provided his update, meteorologists scaled back the snowfall totals and issued a winter weather advisory.

The advisory took effect beginning at 4 a.m. for freezing rain. Meteorologists with the National Weather Service in Sioux Falls, S.D. expected a glaze of ice around a tenth of an inch across exposed surfaces by mid-morning. A mix of snow and sleet were expected by early afternoon.

By late afternoon, 2-3 inches of snow were expected. Northerly winds of up to 30 mph were possible Thursday night.

(Graphic courtesy National Weather Service) The Spencer area is in line for about 3 inches of snow Thursday. The winter weather system will start with freezing rain early Thursday morning. [Click to enlarge]

Aside from a half-inch dusting on February 20, the Spencer area hasn't seen a measurable snowfall since a storm system dropped 5.5 inches on the area Jan. 12-13.