Traffic Crashes Mar Snowy MLK Holiday.

The National Weather Service at Milwaukee/Sullivan has issued an urgent weather message for conditions in southeastern Wisconsin.

From 3 to 5 inches of snow is expected before a winter weather advisory is scheduled to expire at 3 a.m. on Tuesday.

Police and sheriffs department, the state patrol and public works departments are reporting varying but in some places treacherous road conditions.

There has been a serious accident involving a semi-truck and private vehicle near Palmyra on Hwy. ZZ near the Waukesha-Jefferson County line that closed traffic in both directions on Hwy. 59. A second crash near Wisconsin Dells saw a semi-truck veer off I-94 into Mirror Lake. Though dive crews are on the scene, two persons in the truck escaped uninjured.

Lt. Jim Gumm,  with the Waukesha County Sheriff's Dept. and the director of police services for the Village of Sussex, reports that as of 1:30 p.m., there are "no accidents in Sussex and that drivers locally seem to be heeding the weather conditions and driving more slowly."

Det. Steve Pederson with the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department reports that countywide, officers are as of late morning investigating three property damage crashes and one report of a vehicle in the ditch, but that so far, traffic mishaps in the county are fairly light. 

He says that road conditions "could change this afternoon depending on the storm conditions and how effectively plowing and salting crews are able to keep ahead of snowfall." 

The weather service reports that a low pressure system will produce snow and that southerly winds will blow it into drifts throughout Monday evening into Tuesday.

It warns that roads may become snow covered and slippery and that local visibility may drop at times to a half mile or less.