Alex Coble clears heavy wet snow from the sidewalk outside his home on Fourth Street in Bismarck, N.D., on Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2022. (Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune via AP)

IRON MOUNTAIN — The National Weather Service was predicting snow accumulations of 4 to 8 inches locally as a winter storm warning remained in effect until 10 a.m. today.

Winds could gust as high as 40 mph, forecasters said.

Rain or snow is also likely tonight and Friday, with additional snow accumulations of an inch or two. Today’s predicted high is 36 degrees while Friday’s is 32 degrees.

On Wednesday night, ahead of the storm, most area school districts canceled classes for today.

The huge system hurled blizzard-like conditions Wednesday at the Great Plains. Forecasters expect the vast system to hobble the upper Midwest with ice, rain and snow for days, and also move into the central Appalachians and Northeast.

AccuWeather estimated the storm total at 6 to 10 inches of snow for the Iron Mountain area.

Residents from West Virginia to Vermont were told to watch for a possible significant mix of snow, ice and sleet, the Associated Press said.

“This system is notable for the fact that it’s going impact areas all the way from California to eventually the Northeast,” said meteorologist Frank Pereira with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.

In the Black Hills of western South Dakota, snow piled up to nearly 2 feet in some spots.

“They shovel for hours on end,” said Vicki Weekly, who manages a historic hotel in the tourist and gambling city of Deadwood where some visitors still ventured out to the casinos.

A roughly 320-mile span of Interstate 90 in South Dakota was closed Wednesday, and state officials warned drivers there to stay off most highways.

In northern Minnesota, wet, heavy snow left tree limbs sagging and made driving treacherous Wednesday. Weather Service meteorologist Ketzel Levens in Duluth said 6 to 8 inches of snow had accumulated in some areas.