Automobiles collided with trains in two neighboring counties Tuesday, in part due to wintry weather.

In Mower County south of Austin, a man was killed around 11:30 a.m. just off Minnesota Highway 218 near County Road 4.

Law enforcement officials said the man was traveling east on County Road 4 toward Highway 218 when his pickup collided with a Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern train, headed northbound.

Mower County Sheriff Terese Amazi said icy road conditions played a role in the collision.

Although the railroad crossing has stop signs and railroad crossing signs, it does not have gates or lights.The driver was the only person in the truck.

In Steele County, a Union Pacific train collided with a 1996 Buick Century and injured the woman driving it. Steele County Sheriff Lon Thiele said the gravel road was icy; the driver could not stop and slid onto the tracks. The engineer could not stop.

A passenger, a 1-year-old child, was unhurt. The mother was airlifted to Rochester, and the child is in the care of the father.

A winter storm system that dumped nearly 5 inches of snow on Albert Lea has passed, but gusty winds and bitter cold will follow before it’s all said and done.

“The storm system we saw was round one, but the bigger storm from the south is having a huge impact on everything along and east of I-35 south of Minnesota,” said KIMT Chief Meteorologist Adam Frederick.

Although he doesn’t love the snow, Ray Landry doesn’t mind the seemingly endless snowfall hitting Freeborn County this winter.

It keeps him busy, scooping snow for the elderly in his neighborhood.

“This year, it seems like we’re getting what the northeast usually gets,” he said. “Thank God we’re not getting what’s going east toward Chicago!”

On Tuesday afternoon, a massive winter storm resulting in snow, freezing rain and high winds, was reportedly gobbling up a 2,000-mile reach, or about one-third of the nation.

The monstrous storm billed as the worst in decades delivered knock-out after knock-out as it made its way from Texas to Maine, bringing a huge swath of the country to a halt.

In Chicago, the city shut down Lake Shore Drive for the first time in years, an untold number of motorists stranded overnight after multiple car accidents on the iconic roadway.

And it wasn’t over yet. Chicago received up to 17 inches of snow with more still possible, Missouri as much as 1 1/2 feet, more than a foot dropped on northern Indiana and Oklahoma has much as a foot. In the Northeast, spots in northern New York had already gotten more than a foot of snow. New York City was expected to get up to three-quarters of an inch of ice by midday before the mix of sleet and freezing rain warms up to rain.

The Iowa Department of Transportation said most roadways in the state were partially or completely covered with a combination of ice and snow. Deadly wrecks were reported in Minnesota and Kansas.

Frederick said the increased winds and dropping temperatures predicted to hit the Freeborn County area over the next two days will result from that storm system.

In fact, Freeborn County was included in a wind chill advisory until noon on Wednesday. Many area schools delayed start times for 2 hours, with Northwood-Kensett and Lake Mills, Iowa, canceling. The Minnesota Department of Transportatin listed road conditions in Albert Lea fair condition Wednesday morning, with some slippery spots and blowing snow. Areas farther north and west, including Highway 109, Highway 122 near Wells and Highway 13 near New Richland were listed in difficult condition due to drifting snow and icy patches.

Temperatures during the early morning commute Wednesday measured 2 degrees below zero with a wind chill of 20 degrees below zero. High temperatures on Wednesday were expected to top out at 2 degrees above zero. However, northwest winds up to 22 mph could drop wind chills as low as 25 degrees below zero.

As winds were predicted to taper off Wednesday night, bitter cold was expected to continue. By Thursday morning, Frederick said temperatures could drop as low as 8 to 12 degrees below zero, with wind chills at 20 degrees below zero, or colder.

North winds, Frederick said, will actually blow in warmer winds and he expects highs in the mid- to low 20s on Friday.

While he said a little snow could fall Friday night, and then again Sunday into Monday, it would be more of a nuisance-type of snowfall than anything.

Snowfalls higher than usual

The Albert Lea Wastewater Treatment Plant is an observation site for the National Weather Service Chanhassen weather forecast office.

It reported that Monday’s storm dumped 4.7 inches of snow on Albert Lea.

Other observers across the Chanhassen bureau reported receiving snowfall totals ranging from 1 to 12 inches on Monday: Watonwan County with 12 inches, Mankato with 6 inches, Minneapolis with 4.7 inches, Ellendale with 5 inches, Blue Earth with 4 1/2 inches and Owatonna with 2.8 inches.

Last Friday, snowfall accumulation for the season — since the first snow in November — measured about 43 1/2 inches at the Albert Lea plant. Monday’s snowfall bumped that total up to roughly 49 inches.

According to Shawn Devinny, meteorologist with the Chanhassen bureau, the highest snowfall for Albert Lea for the season measured 70.8 inches in the winter of 1935-1936.

Frederick said the normal range of snowfall for Albert Lea is about 40 inches for the entire season.

Rick Ashling, a plant employee, monitors snow accumulation measurements and sends them to the NWS daily. He said the breakdown of snow accumulation for the season to date is as follows: 2 inches in November, 33 1/2 inches in December, 11 inches in January and 2 1/2 inches in February.

— The Associated Press contributed to this story.