The National Weather Service has expanded its winter storm warning across southern Minnesota, including Freeborn County.

Freeborn County is now expected to receive 5 to 7 inches of snow, with winds gusting as high as 40 mph.

Accumulating snow is expected to move into southern Minnesota by Saturday afternoon and lift north and east to central Minnesota and west central Wisconsin during the afternoon, the agency states.

Snow will be heaviest during the afternoon with snowfall rates around 1 inch per hour possible. It will continue into Sunday morning. High winds could lead to blowing and drifting snow, making travel difficult.

The winter storm warning is in effect from noon Saturday to noon Sunday.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation urged people to use extra caution during plowing and snow removal operations, as MnDOT snowplows have already been involved in crashes this year.

“Our snowplow operators are seeing inattentive drivers, motorists driving too close to the plow and motorists driving too fast for conditions,” said Todd Stevens, acting state maintenance engineer. “These are the main causes of crashes with snowplows. Our drivers are well trained to drive their plows, but motorists should be patient, stay back from the plow and only pass when it is safe to do so.”

He said snowplows travel much slower than the posted speeds because it is most effective for clearing roads. An operators’ ability to see behind them is restricted behind the truck, so they must rely on mirrors to see to the rear and side of the truck.

Stevens said their vision is also hampered by snow clouds that are created during plowing.

“The safest place you can be is well behind the snowplow and away from the snow cloud it creates,” he said.

Last year in Minnesota, there were 84 crashes involving motorists and snowplows. Of that total, 58 occurred in the Twin Cities metro area.

State law requires motorists to turn on their headlights when it’s snowing or at any other time when weather conditions impair visibility.

People should turn off their cruise control and stay back at least 10 car lengths behind plows.

The latest road conditions for Minnesota can be found at 511mn.org.