Leave Tuesday if you can.

If your holiday plans include traveling to the western two-thirds of Kansas, wintry weather in the form of snow, blowing snow, rain and cold temperatures could cause problems beginning Tuesday night and into Wednesday.

“I think once we hit later Wednesday into Thursday all bets are off,” said Chad Omitt, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Topeka.

The nasty weather could create dangerous driving conditions, especially on Interstate 70 from Manhattan west to the Colorado border, forecasters said.

The National Weather Service on Monday already issued a winter storm warning for northwestern Kansas as forecasters warned about developing snow and strong winds.

A Kansas Department of Transportation road conditions map is available online at 511.ksdot.org.

Matt Elwell, 6News chief meteorologist, said strong winds and rain beginning Wednesday could also contribute to icy conditions west of Wichita toward Dodge City and Liberal.

“I’m telling people try to travel Tuesday because this is really a pretty significant storm,” Elwell said.

Snowy conditions are also expected to the north in Nebraska and Iowa. In Missouri, rain is in the forecast for later in the week, and things look decent, with maybe some rain to the south on the way to Oklahoma and Texas.

The storm is not expected to have as much of an impact in the Lawrence area, but it does give us the good chance for a white Christmas, Elwell said.

As the storm system moves through, temperatures could drop and turn moisture into snow overnight Thursday into Friday morning, he said.