many schools are already calling off classes for tomorrow... that includes sioux city schools. you can see a full list on the bottom of your screen. elisa raffa has been covering the winter storm for us from outside. elisa? first of all... how are things outside right now? elisa: jenna....roads are snow covered and it is very gusty out here.. blowing snow is dropping visibility. i was out here earlier in some of the peaks of the storm alongside the weather channel. they were in town covering the blizzard today and i got to chat about this storm in comparison to others with meteorologist jim cantore. cantore has been covering weather for three decades and this was his first time in sioux city for a storm...even though he covered a blizzard just a

said the winds of this one are more impressive. "there's a lot more wind with this one. i don't really think the east coast storm verified as a blizzard. when you go back and look at the data, there may have been a few spots that verified as blizzard, but i know we didn't in washington, d.c., we did not. this is much much more windier, and i think it's going to verfiy as blizzard by the time we're done" "it isn't one of those situations where i'd want to be out on the road with my family, driving around on the interstate... it is dangerous" elisa: wind... that's what makes a blizzard and that's what caused incredible problems with blowing snow and dropping visibility that they closed 1-29 in south dakota. elisa: joining me now is srgt jeremey mcclure from sioux city police department. wind has caused a huge problem with visibility today, parts of i- 29 closed... have people heeded those warnings?

gusty winds tomorrow... what are some tips for drivers in the blowing snow? thank you sergeant elisa: more gusty winds tomorrow... even as the snow ends... fred will have the latest forecast in just a few minutes. reporting live in sioux city, elisa raffa.. abc9 news. jenna: one person was killed in a mornng car accident just outside of macy, nebraska according to nebraska state patrol, a trooper responded to the crash just before 9:30 this morning on highway 75. the male driver was the only person in the car

jenna: the nebraska department of roads has suspended plow operations due to extremely low visibility. officials are advising against travel. jenna: today's blizzard shut down many parts of siouxland. the expected snow even garnered attention from those in other parts of the state. abc 9's bria bell brings us more. bria: jenna, today's blizzard caused alot of businesses and highways to close.. and the fast snow fall did not help those that were plowing roadways in any way. siouxland was expected to receive several inches of snow and some people drove as far as seven hours to lend a hand in clearing streets. "um, well actually we're from the quad cities," says countryman. kent countryman is from davenport, iowa and he says after seeing weather warnings about a blizzard hitting the siouxland area. kent decided he would be travelling across the state to help a local landscaping company clean up the white stuff in sioux city "...went ahead and called sharp

here...and i asked him with the size of a storm that was coming in could they use any help and he said, 'definitely. come this way,' so we uh loaded up some of our gear and we headed out here," says countryman. kent is in the landscaping business himself and because his neck of the woods hasn't received much snow action, he says the blizzard was his chance to earn some extra cash. "because of the lack of snow we've had this year, in our area...we were kind of...we gotta get some income coming here," says countryman. the snow fall was so heavy, it made clearing roadways and parking lots difficult. kent says he'd been in north sioux for some time and it felt as it his work was not putting any dents into the snow. "it's a blizzard. i've been through...i've been in the snow business myself for 35 years so i've been through a few blizzards before and it's one of things that you just have to continually, continually, contiually go at," said countryman. bria: kent says that heavy snow is not an easy task to shovel, and it doesn't help with an easy task to shovel, and it doesn't help with strong winds. he believes residents should stay home if possible...even it's only for just one day to help anyone that's plowing snow in the siouxland area to get done faster. reporting live in sioux city, bria bell abc 9 news. jenna: two campaigns are celebrating their caucus two campaigns are celebrating

the heated battle over the hawkeye state last night. jenna: and the results on the republican side favored former texas senator ted cruz. he pooled over 27 percent of the votes... beating out donald trump by three. percent . and on the democratic side it was so close... really a virtual tie. but, hillary clinton edging out vermont senator bernie sanders' by just point-two per- cent . that race so close the iowa democratic party waited until this morning to announce the winner. jenna: if we break down the numbers here locally, it seems clinton was more successful in plymouth county netting 55 per- cent of the precinct numbers there, however in woodbury and sioux county, bernie sanders came out ahead. on the republican side, sioux county fell in line with the state-wide trend cruz coming out ahead there, edging marco rubio by a little

plymouth county both choosing donald trump as their caucus picks. jenna: we saw most caucuses in schools or community centers with lines out the door of people waiting to make their voices heard. but in some locations... its not about how big the crowd is... its about how small the room is. nikki davidson from our des moines affiliate tells us more. "nikki: the way the democrats caucus here is a little different... its actually in a living room. we're going to walk you through what you can expect to see. it's a little unusual they'll be walking through the kitchen over here where they'll get registered. "i was kind of shocked it was at a house" for 52 caucus goers...civic duty... looked a lot like a neighborhood block party... "hey girl how are you" that started with good ole' iowa nice... 'all in favor, aye" until it became clear this was room...almost evenly split between hillary clinton "she has experience, professional" and bernie sanders... "old fashioned, going against corperate america" that creates a tenison "they don't have a prayer at getting president" that gets even the nicest of neighbors... like john means....

"hes got big ideas what good is that" in room full of people not willing to back down. they're not going to elect him, etc etc yelling." but after a few minutes of heat... the caucus is over... and these people go back to being what they've always been... iowa neighbors. i don't think anyone leaves with hard feelings. for your local election headquarters, i'm nikki davidson. " jenna: the results from rural precinct three... two delegates went to hillary clinton... and one to bernie sanders. coming up a furry forecaster gave his predicition this groundhog day so what did he have to say about this winter? find out after the

(fred) the blizzard continues! see you after the break!

phil was plucked from his hole to prededt the end of wiwier this morning g and if y y're a fan ofofarm weather good news. he saw did not see his shadow predicting an early spring on the way. the national oceanic and atmospheric administration says punxsutawney phil's accuracy is about 45-percent. but for a more scientific weather prediction we turn to fred with our forcast! tim/jenna/fred (jenna)

fred hexom fhexom@kcautv.c om (fred) the hd radar shows snow still falling. snowvision shows where the heaviest snow has fallen. nebraska snow totals were as high as 16" in verdigre and 14" in norfolk. sioux city saw 11-13" depending on where you are, while cherokee saw 11". vermillion, sd had 12.5" and north sioux city received 12.1". alcester received 11". road conditions are very bad. orange means don't travel. the blizzard warning remains in effect until 4 am for areas in purple. here's the port neal welding company skycam hd shows low visibility from the ho chunk centre. 34 was the

low. here's the skycam hd in storm lake. 30 is the sioux city temperatu. local temperatures are in the 20s and 30s. wind d ills are singleleigits and teens. winds are 20 to 35 mph with gusts as high as 45 mph in sioux falls. visibility is very poor--less than a half mile inmay spots. the satellite and radar shows the system moving east, but bands of snow lingering behind it. those will wind down early tomorrow morning, as shown on our stormcast hd, but blowing snow will morning. in addition to what has already fallen, 1-2" of additional snow may be sen tonight! your tonight is for snow and blowowg snow conditions. the low will be 18 with winds gusting to 40 mph. will be 22 with blowing snow in the

winds. the 7-day forecast shows quiet weather after tonight, with highs warming to above freezing over the weekend. next week will bring a cooldown and strong winds. 2 tickets to alan jackson is tonight's ask fred prize! jenna/tim/fred

thanks, fred. still to come...

still to come... we take a look at america's untold journey. as we survey one little known piece of the underground railroad as we celebrate black history month

jennununrground railroad that would bring slaves from the south to freedom in the northern territories. but did you know the first underground railroad actually went south to a section of florida that offered freedom. it's part of america's untold journey as we celebrate black history month. " by the late 1600s, slaves head south in search of freedom . james bullock - 01:07:57:00 - in 1687 the first group of

would have been called fugitives. they had escaped bondage from the english plantations in the carolinas. anthony dixon - i think it is important though, that the underground railroad first came south to florida. james bullococ- we don't know how many people attempted the journey. we don't know how many failed. kathy deegan - it wasn't an easy, immediate path to freedom because even once people reached florida they had to make it to st. augustine. it wasn't enough just to get to florida. but if they made it to the town and presented themselves to the governor., they would be given sanctuary . anthony dixon - they are given a choice. you can live in the

live as a maroon society, as you see fit they were also given a choice, if you uld like to live under spanish rule, then you can live at fort mose. vo narr - in 1693, the immediate threat for spain was england and her growing carolina colonies. as word got back to spain that plantation slaves were seeking asylum in spanish florida, ... james bullock 00:08:21:10 - the king of spain created the edict of 1693 which to my knowledge and other scholars appears to be the first civil rights legislation in the new world kathy deegan - 01:41:36:12 - as soon as word got to the plantations in carolina that there was this possibility of sanctuary after 1693 ...many people took advantage of that possibility to try and make it to florida . " jenna: that story of the underground railroad is just one of many untold stories about the origins of the civil rights movement in america. for more... head to our web-site siouxlandmatters t com

sports...as iowa continues its impressive season, the honors keep rolling in for the hawkeyes. find out the latest up ahead. plus...iowa state faces west virginia in another top 25 showdown tonight. hear how the cyclones plan to beat the mountaineers'

basketball coach will tell you, there's no such thing as an easy game at this point of the season. that's certainly true for iowa state. tonight when they host west virginia it will be the fourth time in the last 5 contests they've faced a top-15 opponent. so far iowa state is 2-1 in those ranked contests, downing then number 1 oklahoma and number 4 kansas and falling to fifth ranked texas a and m. while west virginia might not be as highly ranked as those opponents, they present a tough matchup with their pressure. the mountaineers lead the country in steals and forced turnovers and average a whopping 23 points per game off those takeaways. georges niang--"if

you ever been chased by a couple of wild pit bulls? that's what their press really feels likekethey're just looking to m me you feel as much uncomfortable as possible." steve prohm--"but as much as the press is important. they kill you on the glass. we've gotta get stops and we have to rebound. they rebound almost 50 percent of their misses. which is incredible. that's his m-o that's what makes his teams good. their toughness and competitive drive and their will. monte morris--"i just know it's going to be a tough matchup every time we lace up against west virginia and the rough fouls that they do that's just how they play. you can't get mad at them that's just what they know so that's what we go to expect when we play those guys. " tipoff is set for 8 o clock tonight and can be seen over on espn2. the cyclones swept w-v-u last season a a are looking fofotheir sixth win in 7 7 meetings against the mountaineers. we'll have all theaction tonighthtt 10. despite suffering its first conference loss last week, the iowa hawkeyes

waves. jarrod uthoff is featured on a regional cover of this week's sports illustrated, marking the first time since 1966 that a hawkeye hoopster has that honor. while it's a huge accomplishment, uthoff can expect some good natured ribbing from his teammates this week. adam woodbury--"no, i'm sure i will though. i'm sure i'll try to print one off and make fun of him a little bit about it." mike gesell--"i got a little bit of stardom along with jarrod. you know i think maybe it's all the passes i gave him, they decided to put me on there." fran mccaffery--"i think it's great. i'm really happy for jarrod in particular. but for all the guys to be recognized at that level." jarrod uthoff--"to me, it's about us as a the hawkeyes and what we've accomplished as a team. there's nothing about individual, whatat've done as an individual. you know think we've come a long way through this program this year. people predicted us bottom of the big ten and we're proving that we can n play with anybody." iowa's back in action tomorrow when they host penn state. action tomorrow when they host penn state. chris:

yesterday from nebraska, norfolk catholic standout david engelhaupt announced today that he will continue his football career with the in-state huskers. engelhaupt, a 6-3, 235 pounder, had been committed to wyoming before nebraska extended an offer. he was a key component of norfolk catholic's state runner up squad this year, rushing for 1,400 yards and 39 touchdowns while adding 89 tackles and two turn scores on the other side of the ball. engelhaupt is expected to shift to tight end or h-back when he joins the huskers. weather permitting, engelhaupt will join a handful of other siouxland athletes signing national letters of intent tomorrow. branden hohenstein of heelan will join him in lincoln as a preffered walk on. ross godfrey from east will continue his football career at ndsu while sioux center's ko kieft will ink with minnesota. hinton's burke prins accepted a preferred walk on spot with the hawkeyes and 2 soccer standouts, brooke bleeker of heelan and east's elyse huber

today's picture comes from... stephanie winegardner from sloan. her little girl, ellie got to have a little playtime in the snow today. if you're like to submit a facebook fan photo, just post it on our abc-9 facebook page. jenna/tim/chris/fred: (fred) your forecast for tonight is for snow and blowing snow creating blizzard conditions. the low will be 18 with winds gusting to 40 mph. tomorrow, the high will be 22 with blowing snow in the morning and breezy winds. the 7-day forecast shows quiet weather after tonight, with highs warming to above freezing over the weekend. next week will bring a cooldown and strong winds. 2 tickets to alan jackson is tonight's ask fred prize!