Nasty Winter Weather Forecast the Next Few Days

The National Weather Service has now issued a winter storm watch for the Rochester areas.

That's in addition to the winter weather advisory that will be in effect from midnight until 6am on Sunday.

Forecasters say the first of two storm systems is expected to bring around 2 inches of snow to the region early Sunday. The storm is also forecast to produce winds gusting to 45 mph, which is expected to cause considerable blowing and drifting snow and wind chill readings approaching -20 as the temperature drops to around zero by Sunday morning.

The next storm is forecast to arrive late Monday afternoon and has the potential to drop over 6 inches of snow in the storm watch area, which mainly covers a large portion of Iowa. At this point, the heaviest snow is predicted to hit areas south of Rochester, but forecasters say the track of the storm is uncertain.

Bitterly cold arctic air will also settle over the region, beginning early Sunday. Temperatures in the teens below zero with wind chills of -30 to -40 are possible Monday morning.