Snow, ice expected Tuesday

A winter storm expected to move across Eastern Iowa starting Tuesday could dump up to 9 inches of snow and leave a thin sheet of ice making travel 'very difficult to impossible,” the National Weather Service predicts.

Though the weather service expects snowfall in parts of Iowa earlier, forecasters said the heaviest snow in the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City areas will come after noon on Tuesday.

Most of the area could get between 3 and 8 inches of snow by Wednesday morning. But parts of Linn County could see up to 9 inches, forecasters predicted.

The snow will be weighty, the weather service said, and could bog down tree limbs and utility lines.

Davenport, Washington. Ottumwa and Burlington are expected to see less snow as the storm south of the Corridor turns into more of a 'wintry mix,” the weather service said. It cautioned, however, that the boundary between snow and the wintry mix is subject to change.

The snowfall is forecast to turn to freezing rain Tuesday night into early Wednesday, leaving a glaze of ice.

'Travel could be very difficult to impossible,” the weather service said in a forecast. 'The hazardous conditions could impact the morning or evening commute.”

The high Tuesday is expected to be slightly below freezing at about 30 degree, and then slightly above freezing Wednesday at about 34 degrees.