Lake Street in Warsaw. (Photo by Stacey Page)

(Kosciusko County Highway Department is pulling snow plows off of the roads at 6 p.m. tonight and stationing them at area fire departments. Only emergency travel is advised.)

The National Weather Service has cancelled the Winter Storm Warning and upgraded our area to a Blizzard Warning. 

Blizzard conditions are expected until 7 a.m. Monday for Kosciusko, Marshall, Fulton, Elkhart, Starke, Pulaski, St. Joseph, LaPorte, White, Cass, Miami, Wabash, Whitley and Grant counties.

A Wind Chill Warning remains in effect until 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Locally, Kosciusko County is seeing heavy snowfall with accumulations totaling up to 2 inches per hour. That system is expected to continue through the night and end with a total of up to 16 inches on the ground.

Gusty northwest winds up to 35 mph will result in significant blowing and drifting snow into Monday.

Also tonight, temperatures will drastically fall into the negative numbers with lows between 7 below and 20 below zero. Deadly wind chills between 30 below and 45 below zero can be expected through Tuesday. Frostbite and hypothermia will occur in a matter of minutes with these expected wind chills. Death is also possible in precautions are not taken.

Most roads are currently snow covered and slick. Road conditions will continue to deteriorate and some roads will become completely impassable. Visibilities will be reduced to a quarter of a mile or less in heavy snow and blowing snow conditions.

Fulton County, Marshall, Elkhart and Whitley counties have all issued weather emergencies meaning travel may be restricted to emergency management workers only and essential emergency travel. In Whitley County, it now means travel on all county roads is prohibited.

For the latest road conditions, see the Indiana State Police website.