The first significant snowfall of the season last week had area snowmobilers out enjoying their machines and hoping for more snow to keep them active. Cass County Recorder Joyce Jensen says before you begin your next adventure in the open, you should be aware the State of Iowa has made some changes in snowmobile registration, license renewal, titling and assignment of liens.

Jensen says her office uses the Recreational Vehicle and Vessel Registration, or RVVRS (pronounced “Rivers”) System. She reminds snowmobile enthusiasts that registrations for your machine or machines are due no later than the end of this month. Jensen says registrations are due by December 31^st, if you want to avoid a penalty.

In addition she says, there are some new requirements when it comes to using snowmobiles on public land. Jensen says all snowmobiles, regardless of owner residency status, used on public land, public ice, and designated snowmobile trails in the State of Iowa, must display and IDNR User Permit.

User permits are required in addition to a valid registration. And, Jensen says also the State requires insurance cards or proof of insurance in order for snowmobiles to be used on the highways. There are new rules as well, regarding the use of snowmobiles for“Water Skipping.”

She says you are welcome to come into the Cass County Recorder’s Office to pick up a booklet containing information on all the new changes, which Joyce and her staff will go over with you. She says she hopes to see all snowmobile enthusiasts in her office over the next few days to get their registration up-to-date and go over the new rules.

An elderly Council Bluffs man who suffered from third-degree burns and smoke inhalation during a fire early Sunday morning, has died from his injuries. According to Omaha television station KMTV, 90-year-old Robert Kissel, Sr., a World War II veteran succumbed to his injuries this week.

Kissel, Sr., was transferred from Creighton University Medical Center to St. Elizabeth Regional Medical Center in Lincoln, NE, following the 2:30-a.m. fire, Sunday. His 59-year old daughter, Robin Ann Krause tried to reach her father but couldn’t because the staircase was on fire. Instead, she called 911 and crawled out a basement window.

Firefighters found Kissel, Sr. in his bedroom. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The Adair County Board of Supervisors will meet for the last time in 2012, Friday morning, in Greenfield. During their 9-a.m. session at the courthouse, the Board will discuss and possibly act on: Taxable mileage; Township Clerk wages, and an amended Public Health Emergency Preparedness Contract. In addition, at 9:15, the Adair County Supervisors will hear from County Engineer Nick Kauffman, who will present a report in his department’s maintenance and activities.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors will hold their last meeting of the month Monday morning, here in Atlantic. During their 9-a.m. session at the courthouse, the Board will act on a Livestock Facility Construction resolution, and on ratifying a bargaining unit  agreement with the Secondary Roads Dept. union.

Another week, another snowstorm. A large portion of Iowa is about to get dumped on, according to meteorologist Mindy Beerends at the National Weather Service office in Johnston. A storm system is moving out of the Rockies, tracking east, which will bring us persistent snow starting this afternoon, through tonight and into tomorrow.

At last check, 25 counties in northwest and north-central Iowa are under a Winter Weather Advisory. Beerends says conditions won’t be as bad as last week’s blizzard, but some areas of Iowa will be getting another good dose of snow.

“Right now, mostly across the northern half of Iowa, we’re looking right around three to four inches and there could be a few five-inch reports by the time the snow tapers off sometime Friday,” she says.

The weekend forecast calls for clearing skies and dry weather, with high temperatures warming slightly into the 20s and near-30.

(Radio Iowa)

w/ Ric Hanson

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An accident on Interstate 80 in Council Bluffs Wednesday afternoon resulted in three people being sent to the hospital. According to Omaha Television station KETV, a vehicle drifted off the interstate near the Lake Manawa exit before striking a guardrail head on. The unidentified female driver and her two passengers were seriously injured, and transported to Mercy Hospital. Authorities say all of the vehicles’ occupants were wearing their seat belts.

AREA COUNTIES: SAC AND CRAWFORD –

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO NOON CST FRIDAY…

LIGHT SNOW MOVE INTO WEST CENTRAL AND NORTH CENTRAL IOWA BY LATE THIS MORNING…AND WILL CONTINUE TO SPREAD ACROSS THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON. THE SNOW WILL PERSIST ACROSS THE AREA TONIGHT…BEFORE TAPERING OFF LATE FRIDAY MORNING.

TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF 3 TO 4 INCHES BY LATE FRIDAY MORNING ARE EXPECTED…WITH SPOTTY 5 INCH AMOUNTS POSSIBLE. .EASTERLY WINDS OF 5 TO 15 MPH ARE EXPECTED. VISIBILITIES WILL BE REDUCED IN SNOW…BUT ARE GENERALLY EXPECTED TO REMAIN ABOVE A MILE.

SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS ARE NOT LIKELY…THOUGH ROADS WILL BECOME SLIPPERY WITH THE NEW SNOWFALL.  A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW WILL CAUSE TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SNOW COVERED ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITY…AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.

There are still several cars and trucks still stuck in the ditches along the interstate highways following the blizzard last week. Iowa D-O-T maintenance engineer, Bob Younie, says his department works with the state patrol to help get those vehicles pulled out. “When folks drive off the road and they need a wrecker to get their car out — and semis too for that matter — we understand the impatience of getting the vehicle back out and getting it fix or repaired or on the way, whatever has to be done,” Younie says. “But we also have to balance the safety concerns of the traffic backups that are associated with the towing vehicles pulling especially those big trucks out.”

Wednesday was a big travel day after the holiday. “There’s a lot of folks on the road maybe coming back from Christmas, so it’s a little harder to get a closure in place today that doesn’t have large backups than it will be later in time. So, it’s a balance of public mobility and public safety,” Younie says. He says traffic can back up for miles as the wreckers have to close off traffic to pull the bigger trucks out of the ditch. An 80-mile stretch of Interstate-35 was closed to traffic Thursday during the height of the storm as Younie says they tried to prevent more accidents and people sliding into the ditch.

He says I-35 has a set of gates near Ames for northbound traffic and just north of Highway 18 near Clear Lake and Mason City for southbound traffic that they used to close the road after several collisions. “And the system really works well from out standpoint to be able to effectively close off the interstate. And this again was a public safety issue. It wasn’t safe for people to drive out there,” Younie says. Younie says the state patrol monitors the situation determines when it is and isn’t safe to tow vehicles during severe weather.

(Radio Iowa)