GLADSTONE, Neb. - The blizzard conditions seemed to have calmed in Southeast Nebraska as of Wednesday around 4 p.m., but throughout the afternoon raging winds whipped up snow and made travel extremely treacherous - as this reporter learned firsthand. 

Southeast Nebraska didn't see any snow until shortly after 9 a.m. Wednesday, but from then on until around 4, the snow came down pretty consistently. Most forecasts called for an average of 3 to 6 inches across the region, with more northern areas like Saline County expected to withstand a lot more snow compared to more southern counties like Gage. 

That might be just as well, seeing as southern Nebraska and northern Kansas were among the areas most affected by the first few snowstorms of the season. Some local businesses opened in the early morning hours before shutting down by 10 or 11 a.m. with worse conditions expected, and local schools all closed their doors Wednesday. Widespread power outages were reported in Fairbury and beyond - much of the county was without power for the late morning and into the late afternoon. The city of Fairbury announced around noon that the city's well site was running on backup power, and asked citizens to help by conserving water.

But what was worse than the snowfall itself was the wind - even before the snow started to fall Wednesday morning, the wind was whipping making it hard to see and certainly hard to drive even at short distances.. Forecasts called for wind gusts of anywhere between 30 and 75 miles per hour across the region, another layer to the already tempestuous blizzard-like conditions expected. 

And the high winds wreaked havoc on travel across the region and, indeed, across the state. Multiple wrecks were reported around Jansen thanks to near-zero visibility levels, and nearly all roads were shut down or at least restricted for at least part of the day. Due to downed power lines stretching across the road, Highway 136 between Thayer and Nuckolls Counties was shut down early Wednesday, as was Highway 4 further north near Thayer and Fillmore Counties, according to the Thayer County Sheriff's Office. 

Jefferson and Saline County Emergency Management services reported multiple vehicles in ditches in Saline County, and stressed that driving was not recommended, underscoring that if people do not need to be outside and traveling, they are advised to stay home - something that this reporter can certainly attest to.