(Radio Iowa/KJAN) – The High Wind Warning expired this (Wednesday) morning, but strong gusts were continuing to blast across Iowa before they were expected to diminish this (Wed.) afternoon. National Weather Service meteorologist Brooke Hagenhoff) says some winds early this (Wednesday) morning approached 70 miles an hour. “Sixty-eight is the highest recorded so far out in Carroll,” she says. “Des Moines has gusted to 66, and parts of western Iowa towards Nebraska and South Dakota have gusted towards 69 miles per hour.” No serious injuries are reported after multiple incidents of semis blowing onto their sides on Interstates 35 and 80. Tree limbs falling on power lines caused scattered outages, while many Iowa school districts delayed the start of classes two hours.

In southwest Iowa, a semi tractor-trailer was blown off of Interstate 80 westbound east of the Marne Exit. Minor injuries were reported. And, a semi was blown-off of I-80 eastbound, near mile marker 11 in Pottawattamie County. A Street/stop sign was snapped-off at its base at 4th & Walnut, here in Atlantic, and a tree or tree debris was blocking Highway 173 north of I-80 early this (Wed.) morning, but the road had been cleared by 5:15-a.m.  Elsewhere, a power power was snapped by the winds in Page County.

Hagenhoff says the forecast calls for another wintry mix of weather tomorrow (Thursday). “Parts of northeast Iowa could see a few inches of snow. As we get towards central Iowa, maybe a little bit of a rain/snow mix, perhaps some light ice accumulations with that are possible,” Hagenhoff says. “Anything that does accumulate will be very light.” She says yet more snow is possible this weekend for wide areas of the state. “Yeah, the third consecutive week we’re forecasting snow on a Saturday for Iowa,” Hagenhoff says. “Thankfully, this round looks fairly light, maybe an inch or two, but very cold — highs in the single digits to teens on Saturday and Sunday.”

The Thanksgiving weekend storm dropped more than 16 inches of snow on some parts of the state.