With snow in the forecast, if you are planning to travel, make sure you have a winter survival kit packed away

MASON CITY — A winter storm that will be the first widespread, significant snowfall of the season for most of the state is forecast to start tonight. Snow will spread from far western Iowa overnight tonight into central and eastern Iowa. Five to eight inches of snow is forecast over southern into portions of central Iowa, while here in north-central Iowa, accumulations of two to four inches could happen.

If you are planning to travel late tonight, tomorrow or into Thursday, you need to be prepared. Pete Hjelmstad with the Iowa Department of Transportation says you should have a winter survival kit packed in your car in the event something happens.  “Make sure you’ve got your cell phone, make sure it’s charged. Make sure you have extra gloves, boots, stocking cap, blanket. Doesn’t even hurt to have something like a granola bar, some sort of non-perishable you can eat if you end up being stranded for a while. Just the basic things, a flashlight, jumper cables. Maybe the jump packs. With the cold temperatures, a lot of people are going to find out just how good or not so good their batteries are, so those are good things to have as well.”

Hjelmstad says if you don’t typically pack away a winter survival kit, you may want to think about doing so with the changes in the weather.  “If something would happen where you end up in the ditch, it’s going to get cold, especially if your vehicle is damaged or can’t be running.  Make sure you have the winter survival kit and a full tank of gas, and hopefully we’ll get through this one and be ready for the next one, because it sounds like we’re entering a little bit more of a winter-like pattern, so we’ll see how long it stays around.”

Hjelmstad says the best piece of advice is if you don’t have to go, postpone your plans.

Stay up to date with road conditions and the latest weather advisories by heading to the weather section at northiowanow.com