CEDAR FALLS - Winter break may have ended for University of Northern Iowa students, but winter is far from over. A blizzard warning prompted UNI officials to cancel all evening classes that began after 4 p.m. Monday and shut down school operations at 5 p.m.

"We rarely close classes," said James Lubker, UNI interim provost, adding the decision wasn't made lightly. However, in the midst of a blizzard warning that went into effect Monday evening at 6 p.m., Lubker said the right decision was clear. "Quite frankly I don't want someone's death on my head."

While the cancellation stalls the start of the semester for some classes, Lubker said it comes on the right end of the semester.

"I'd rather have it on the first day than on finals," he said.

Some students didn't mind the extra time off Monday.

"The first day of class is wearing me out today," said Preston Sereg, UNI freshman.

"I was kind of hoping it would snow earlier and we wouldn't have a first day," said Laura Prien, UNI senior.

Snow blew into the Cedar Valley about 9:30 a.m. The National Weather Service in Des Moines issued a blizzard warning that went into effect at 6 p.m. That warning was downgraded to a winter weather advisory about 8:50 p.m.

"It's not meeting blizzard criteria," said NWS Meteorologist Miles Schumacher. "For a blizzard you have to have sustained winds at 35 mph and visibility less than quarter mile. We're seeing gusts up to that but it isn't sustained so we downgraded it. That's not to say it isn't dangerous - just not a blizzard."

Winds were around 22 mph by about 10 p.m. Most of the day's snow fell early, with about 3 inches falling Monday. The severe weather concern was the high winds, meteorologists said.

Waterloo and Cedar Falls schools dismissed two hours early Monday, and many were starting late today.

Mark Schnackenberg, meteorologist with KWWL-TV in Waterloo, said rural areas had considerable drifting, but that most of the area was spared the blizzard-like conditions because the wind gusts were not as strong as predicted and because a freezing mist fell, which kept the snow from blowing.

"Most of the worst area is west of Interstate 35," he said.

Schnackenberg said after 6 p.m. tonight the area could see another 2 to 5 inches of snow. He said drifting will be the major problem overnight.

Road crews worked to clear the roads in between the snowfall and the high winds. The Iowa Department of Transportation pulled crews off of the highways in some parts of Iowa Monday evening.

"If the winds get too bad to the point where they have no visibility, we'll probably do the same," said Don Dietz, Iowa DOT equipment operator.

Equipment operators who were working through the heaviest snow were relieved at about 10 p.m. by workers who planned to be on the state highways throughout the night.

"Hopefully we can maybe get some of these roads dried up before that wind picks up."

Courier Editor Nancy Newhoff contributed to this article

Contact John Molseed at (319) 291-1418 or john.molseed@wcfcourier.com