Wednesday FIRST ALERT DAY continues with snow, strong wind and falling temps.

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Wednesday is a First Alert Day as cold air, strong wind and blowing snow are moving through the area the rest of the afternoon. Road conditions and visibility will make travel difficult at times the rest of the day. There are several aspects to this storm that I’ll break down here.

Temperature & Wind Chill: After a high near 50 very early this morning, temperatures will continue to plummet the rest of the afternoon. We’ll very easily drop into the upper teens by 6pm this evening. With the strong wind expected, wind chills will be a factor the rest of the day as well. Wind chills will drop into the single digits below zero by sunset and continue to fall.

Wind Gusts: Gusts up to 45-55 mph are likely to continue the rest the after and into the evening. This will cause any falling snow to blow around and drop visibility to near zero at times, especially north and northwest of the metro where blizzard warnings remain in place.

Snowfall: Snow will continue to move through the area with varying rates the rest of the afternoon. While totals will end up near 1″ in the metro area, it will be tough to measure as wind gusts to 50 mph will blow in around. That wind will also cause visibility to drop near zero at times while it is falling. Winter Storm Warnings and Blizzard Warnings are in place through the day to account for blowing snow dropping visibility and deteriorating road conditions at times. Snow should be done in the area by 7pm tonight as it moves to the east.

Road conditions will gradually improve overnight into Thursday morning as road crews continue to move about the area. Wind gusts will stay strong enough into Thursday to the point where some snow will try to blow back on to the road from time to time. Those wind gusts will gradually subside all day Thursday though.