Winter weather advisories and a winter storm warning have been issued by the National Weather Service in anticipation of the first of several storm systems forecast to barrel through East Idaho during the next several days.

This first storm could arrive in East Idaho as early as Thursday morning and continue into Friday morning, bringing colder temps, rain, snow and 40 mph winds to East Idaho. This storm will be followed by several similar weather systems that will continue to hit the region through next week.

The Thursday morning to Friday morning storm is expected to dump up to 16 inches of snow on Bear Lake County's Emigration Summit area, while the Island Park and Spencer areas could receive up to 10 inches of snow. The region's other higher mountain areas could see up to 6 inches of fresh snow above 6,000 feet elevation.

The rest of East Idaho could receive a half-inch to an inch of snow Thursday morning to Friday morning in the lowlands including Pocatello, Chubbuck, American Falls, Aberdeen, Blackfoot, Fort Hall, Idaho Falls, Ammon, Rigby, Preston, Malad, St. Anthony and Rexburg and 2 to 3 inches of snow in the highlands including Inkom, Soda Springs, Montpelier, Lava Hot Springs, McCammon, Arimo, Downey, Rockland, Arbon, Palisades, Swan Valley, Bone, Ashton, Albion, Malta, Holbrook, Driggs and Victor.

The storm's snow, rain and high winds are expected to create hazardous road conditions, especially in East Idaho's higher elevations. Motorists are advised to slow down and use caution.

Elsewhere, a winter weather advisory calling for snow is in effect in the central Idaho mountains, including Stanley, Sun Valley and Ketchum because of the storm, and various winter weather warnings have been declared in all of the states surrounding Idaho.

East Idahoans are being encouraged to continuously check the weather forecast following the Thursday morning to Friday morning storm because more storms are on the way.

They're all expected to bring colder temps, snow and rain to East Idaho possibly every day through next week, though it's unclear how strong or weak these systems will be.