They were right.

A major snowstorm forecasted by the National Weather Service touched down in Austin Tuesday, bringing gusty winds, cold temperatures and 10 inches of snow through Wednesday morning, a little more than two weeks before Christmas.

Local authorities are not reporting any serious accidents as of Wednesday morning because of the ongoing snow storm, but county roads are “impassable.”

About 10 inches of snow has been dumped on the Austin area so far, slowing down traffic considerably, police chief Paul Philipp said.

This included a semi getting stuck on Century Parkway near Hormel early this morning. That backed up traffic for sometime, the chief said.

Philipp also said a number of drivers were getting stuck Tuesday night and simply abandoning their cars in the snow. He advised motorists not to do this as it makes plowing and traffic control much harder.

City ambulances also had a difficult time last night, and for some time, they were grounded in their own parking lot, Philipp said.

Sheriff Terese Amazi said the county is contacting the highway department on medical calls so ambulances can follow snow plows outside Austin.

Otherwise, county roads are “impassable” at this point, Amazi said.

Authorities are not reporting any power outages at this time related to the storm.

All Austin area schools canceled classes, activities and sporting events for Wednesday, and all activities and sporting events were canceled Tuesday night.

NWS officials expect the storm to continue through tonight, with heavy snow expected, total accumulations of between 12 to 16 inches, wind gusts at times between 40 to 50 mph and blizzard conditions throughout Wednesday.

According to a statement on the NWS Web site, “This (storm) will have a significant impact on travel, resulting in dangerous conditions, with road closures, whiteouts and impossible travel.”

The Minnesota Department of Transportation reported difficult driving conditions for both Interstate 35 and Interstate 90, with travel not advised on I-90 as of Wednesday morning.

According to KIMT in Mason City, Iowa, tonight will see blowing snow and some clearing skies late. Lows will be in the single digits below zero. Thursday will bring partly cloudy skies.

A large portion of the midwest was hit by the extreme winter weather, leaving dangerous ice, heavy snow and vicious winds in its wake as it slogged eastward Wednesday, threatening to wreak havoc on commuters in the Upper Midwest.

More than a foot of snow was expected in parts of Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa, where the National Weather Service warned of “extremely dangerous blizzard conditions” and near whiteout driving conditions.

Wind gusts of up to 50 mph could build snow drifts between 8 and 15 feet tall.

Between 4 and 6 inches of snow fell in western and central Michigan, while blizzard warnings also covered parts of Nebraska, Kansas and Minnesota.

“For the most part, we’re telling people to stay home,” said Roger Vachalek, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Des Moines. He said if motorists get stranded, “you might end up being out there for quite a while.”

In the West, pounded by rain and snow earlier this week, bitter wind chills as low as 40 below were sweeping across portions of southern Montana. The biting winds also were moving across Wyoming and South Dakota, according to the National Weather Service.

By the time the storm moves off the Maine coast Thursday night, it may have affected as much as two-thirds of the country, said Jim Lee, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Des Moines.

“It’s a monster of a storm,” Lee said.

-The Associated Press contributed to this report.