One person seriously injured in 50-vehicle wreck on I-80 near Altoona

One person was seriously injured Monday in a 50-vehicle crash on Interstate Highway 80 near Altoona.

Iowa State Patrol spokesman Sgt. Alex Dinkla said one person was seriously injured after the wreck in the westbound lanes of I-80 just east of the east mixmaster interchange before reaching U.S. Highway 65. Dinkla did not release any other details of what caused the crash, but said police are still accounting for all vehicles involved.

The westbound lanes of I-80 were blocked between the Highway 65 exit and the exit to I-235 for several hours Monday, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation. The lanes were reopened around 3 p.m., agency officials said in a tweet. 

There were multiple wrecks Monday after snow moved through the metro and caused slippery roads across central Iowa.

At about 10 a.m. Monday, brief, sometimes-heavy snow showers moved through the metro area as a cold front swept through the area. Crashes were also reported on Interstate Highway 35/80 and Interstate Highway 235 in the metro area, according to the DOT.

A cold front moved into Central Iowa and brought windy conditions with sometimes heavy snow.

Temperatures hovered around 41 degrees in Des Moines at 7 a.m Monday, according to the National Weather Service. By 12:30 p.m. temperatures sat at 20 degrees, according to the NWS.

Winds out of the northwest were expected to blow at 7 to 12 mph in the morning and increase to 18 to 20 mph in the afternoon. Some wind gusts could get as high as 30 mph, according to the NWS.

Temperatures fell to 15 degrees by 5 p.m. and wind chills reached as low as 0 degrees. Overnight temperatures were expected to fall to 14 degrees and wind chills were expected to fall to as low as minus 5 degrees, the NWS said.