NEW ULM — The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a Winter Storm Watch for parts of south central, southeast, east center and central Minnesota Thursday.

Heavy snow is possible, between 5 and 8 inches of snow may fall from late Friday night through Saturday afternoon. Travel could be very difficult during the storm, according to the NWS.

“Because of the duration and intensity of the snow, it’ll impact travel. We expect large flakes impacting visibility and road surfaces early in the storm. Snow will fall at up to one inch per hour throughout the day. Lighter snow will likely fall later Saturday,” said NWS Chanhassen Meteorologist Joe Calderone.

He said there will not be a lot of wind so blizzard conditions are not expected.

As of early Thursday, confidence of more than four inches of snow is medium to high along and south of the Interstate 94 corridor from midnight Saturday morning to midnight Sunday morning, according to the NWS.

The storm could dump as much as 11 inches of snow in the Twin Cities metro, 1 to 3 inches Friday and 4 to 8 inches Saturday.

Calderone said the public should monitor the latest forecasts for storm updates.

Affected counties include Brown, Blue Earth, Nicollet, McLeod, Le Sueur, Scott, Carver, and Waseca.

After the storm, arctic air will bring several days of frigid weather with below zero lows and some single digit highs.

For more information, visit www.weather/gov/.