BEATRICE – It’s not a day for driving, if you don’t have to.   Many areas of Nebraska were seeing blizzard conditions early Thursday, as powerful winds blew snow across roadways, making for partly snowpacked, icy conditions on area streets, rural roads and highways.

A sizable chunk of eastern and southeastern Nebraska was included in a winter storm warning, while wind chill warnings were issued for much of the remainder of the state.

In southeast Nebraska, temperatures in the mid-20s at five p.m. Wednesday, fell to below zero just after midnight.   

In Beatrice, the five a.m.  temperature Thursday, stood at minus-six.  With winds gusting from the northwest up to 40-miles-per-hour, that dropped the wind chill to as low as 33-below zero.  Most areas in southeast Nebraska saw overnight snow of about one to three inches.

Temperatures are expected to stay below zero for all of Thursday, before readings climb into positive territory in the single numbers, Friday.