According to the National Weather Service out of Des Moines, the Webster County area is projected to have 7 to 10 inches of snowfall accumulation.

The NWS has issued a winter storm warning for Webster and the surrounding counties, in effect from noon today through 9 a.m. Thursday.

Webster County Engineer Jamie Johll and Fort Dodge Public Works Director Brett Daniel said their snow plow crews will be out on the roads when the snow begins to fall.

“The temperature is not going to be super cold, so the snow is going to be wet and heavy, which is good and bad,” Johll said. “Wet, heavy snow doesn’t blow and drift as much, but it’s also a lot harder and heavier to plow.”

The forecasted snowfall this week will be completely different than the snowstorm the area saw just before Christmas last month, Daniel said.

“It’s definitely going to be challenging,” he said. “It’s probably not something we will be able to keep up with.”

The snow is expected to fall at rates of one to two inches an hour starting this afternoon and into the evening and overnight hours.

During the snowfall, city crews will be prioritizing hills, bridges and main roads, Daniel said. They won’t venture onto residential streets until the snowfall has let up, likely Thursday morning, he said.

To prepare for the storm, city crews will be putting down sand on some of the hills and bridges in town, Daniel said. With the amount of snow predicted, salt and brine won’t make much of a difference, he added.

“Things are going to get slick, there’s no doubt about it,” Daniel said. “Things are going to get a little icky at times overnight and probably Thursday morning, so people need to drive slow and stay safe.”

The city has 10 plows that are divided across five zones, so each zone has two snow plows going through the streets, Daniel said. Some plows will likely be working overnight to keep the main roads, hills and bridges clear, he added.

The county roads crews don’t do plowing shifts, so it will be “all hands on deck” when it comes to cleaning up after this storm, Johll said. The plow drivers will start on the main roads around the county when the snow starts today. The plows will likely stay on the roads until about 6 p.m. and will start again as early as 4 a.m. on Thursday.

“Thursday morning is going to be really rough,” Johll said.

The county has 30 plow trucks Johll will send around the county, as well as 14 all-wheel drive motor graders when the snow gets heavier and needs to be pushed off the road shoulders.

“Hopefully it gets cold enough that the gravel roads freeze,” Johll said. “In a good winter year, the ground freezes and then it snows and then we just plow the snow off.”

He said this winter has been a “weird year” with warmer temperatures, so the gravel roads are soft and easily damaged by the heavy plowing equipment.

“So we have to be extra careful when the ground isn’t frozen,” Johll said.

In town, Daniel encourages vehicle owners to make sure they’re parked in a parking lot or in a driveway if they’re located along one of the emergency snow routes.

Once the fallen snow has accumulated two inches, the city’s snow removal ordinance will go into effect.

The city’s snow removal ordinance states that a parking prohibition will automatically go into effect on all residential emergency snow routes when there has been an accumulation of 2 or more inches of snow. The parking prohibition will be in effect for a period of 24 hours.

Failure to remove vehicles from the emergency snow routes could lead to vehicles being towed.

“Probably our No. 1 issue when we’re out plowing snow is cars in the way,” Daniel said. “We don’t want to be that person that tows cars but, ultimately, we have to and we will if people don’t move their cars when it snows.”