STATEWIDE — A major winter storm may soon hit Indiana, and the National Weather Service in Indiana wants you to be prepared.

Meteorologists are tracking a system of rain, powerful wind, snow and freezing temperatures, creating dangerous conditions for your holiday weekend.

“We’ve just recently expanded our winter storm watch to include all of central Indiana,” said Jason Puma, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Indianapolis. During Tuesday’s forecast update, Puma said the winter storm watch, set to take effect Thursday, now includes areas such as Kokomo, Lafayette, Crawfordsville, and the northwest portions of the state.

So far, this is the timeline of events that forecasters are expecting. Rain falls for most of Thursday afternoon. Immediately after that rain fall is the arrival of a cold front with 30 mile per hour wind gusts and the chance that any rain on the ground will freeze and turn into ice. Then, snow moves in, dropping anywhere from 3 to 5 inches in central Indiana and 4 to 8 inches in northern Indiana through the overnight hours and into Friday.

“That snow is expected to fall during the evening hours on Thursday night and continue to persist into Friday morning during the rush hour and that will be impacted,” says Puma.

The wind gusts could cause “blowing” or “drifting” snow, affecting visibility during the morning commute. Combine that with inches of snow covering potentially icy patches on the road, and that’s a recipe for dangerous driving conditions.

The National Weather Service will hold a second conference Wednesday afternoon at 2 o’clock.