Be prepared, Minnesota. A storm on its way later this week sounds like it'll pack quite the punch.

It's the weather, so things aren't exact 3-4 days ahead of the storm, but the National Weather Service is predicting wind and snow for central and northern parts of the start, rain and snow for the metro, and rain and chances of thunder for the south.

It's unclear at this point how much snow will fall, but the forecast discussion Tuesday morning from the NWS Twin Cities says two computer models "bring a 2 to 2.5 FOOT swath of snow to parts of western and central MN."

Local storm specialist Tim Purington tells BMTN that he expects those snow totals to come down as the storm gets closer, but areas - mainly north of the metro at this point - have a chance for significant accumulation.

The winds associated with the storm are expected to very strong, with gusts over 40 mph creating possible blizzard conditions, according to The Weather Channel.

The Duluth office of the NWS doesn't mention anything about snow totals, but it does say that the "main takeaway right now is to think of alternate plans if you will be traveling late week into the weekend and prepare for possible heavy snow accumulation."

Check back for updates as the storm system gets closer.