Parts of northern North Dakota braced for snow and wind, while residents in the east recovered from their first real blast of winter.

The National Weather Service issued a snow and blowing snow advisory for parts of northwest and north central North Dakota, for Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Forecasters said a cold front moving from west to east would bring winds up to 40 mph and up to 4 inches of snow.

"It looks like over the next few days we'll see a series of what we call clipper systems, as an Alberta Clipper moves across the region," said National Weather Service meteorologist Todd Hamilton.

Colder temperatures moved into the state, with overnight lows dropping as low as 11 below zero at the Grand Forks airport and Devils Lake, and 13 below at Minot Air Force Base. Highs Tuesday and Wednesday in the state were expected to be mostly in the teens.

"Beyond Wednesday, there doesn't look to be any real strong weather systems. We might see some flurries here or there, but otherwise not much more," Hamilton said.

However, he said, "Through the first week of December, it looks like temperatures will be below normal to normal. Little chance of any above-normal temperatures."

The weather service late Monday canceled a winter weather advisory for eastern North Dakota, as snow ended, winds died down and visibility improved.

Cass County Sheriff Paul Laney advised no travel outside the Fargo city limits for a time Monday night because of snow and ice. Winds were clocked at close to 50 mph in the Fargo area, and near-blizzard conditions were reported in some parts of the region.

Law enforcement officials in the Red River Valley reported numerous accidents, though none with serious injuries.

Parts of Interstate 29 and U.S. Highway 2 in northeastern North Dakota had compacted snow or ice Tuesday, the state Transportation Department said. Other roads in the region also had areas with poor driving conditions.

Despite the return to winter, officials in some areas were still worried about the danger of wildfires due to dry conditions. Firefighters were called to put out a hay bale fire east of Bismarck on Monday.

The bales had been stacked around a well to keep it from freezing, and heat tape sparked the blaze, said Bismarck Rural Fire Department firefighter Casey Brogstad.

Snow on the ground would lessen the risk of grass fires, officials said.

So far this year, fires have burned about 14,600 acres of grasslands in the state, well below the figure of about 65,000 acres at the same time last year, according to Geremy Olson, a fire planning and prevention specialist with the North Dakota Forest Service. Early season rains this year are the reason for the drop, he said.

"We've had a pretty quiet year," Olson said. "We just had moisture, which decreases that fire danger."