CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The Kanawha Valley awaits extreme winter weather this weekend, and as the community prepares, public works and emergency management departments are doing final checks before snow starts falling.

Crews are staffed, trucks are fueled, and salt is ready to be dropped with the storm on its way.

“We, first and foremost, have to make sure that we have all of our vehicles in operating, good condition, which they are, so all of our vehicles are ready, and then we’ve got to work on our staffing so all that’s taken care of,” Charleston Public Works Director Brent Webster said.

Forecasts show significant snowfall expected for most of West Virginia, but a “warm wedge” passing through southern and central portions of the state could result in periods of freezing rain and sleet in Charleston. Officials hope that doesn’t result in significant ice on the roads.

“In our planning, we’re hoping for more snow than sleet or even freezing rain, so we’d rather have that. I think the biggest snow amounts scare people, but for us, we would rather deal with the snow than we would the ice,” Webster said.

The timing of the storm itself could be a benefit for crews working on the roads. A lack of morning work and school traffic on Sunday means fewer people on the roads and more time to treat them.

“Thankfully, it’s a Saturday night/Sunday morning. There won’t be as much work traffic. There’ll still be traffic. Sunday will be a bad day. Hopefully, most people can stay at home and off the highways. It might not be as bad as it would’ve been catching the kids at school or a busy day or something,” Kanawha County Emergency Management Director CW Sigman said.

Officials are stressing that the car travel should be avoided if possible during the storm. Crews will be doing the best they can, but perfect conditions aren’t in the cards.

“I think the best that people can really hope for are passable roads. To think that they’re going to see black roads with a storm like this, that won’t be very achievable,” Webster said.

Road treatment plans are ready to be implemented with plows ready to go and salt loaded. Charleston Public Works is prepared to battle the elements all weekend.

“We’re pretty much a salt-only outfit. I know that some other departments have the liquid brine, and the state uses that a lot for the interstate system or maybe even some grit. We don’t currently. We have in the past, but usually we just operate with road salt,” Webster said.

The possibility of ice brings additional problems with it. The county is already communicating with local utilities in case power outages occur during the storm.

“Ice will cause a lot of power outages, so we’re reaching out to some of the agencies and making sure we’re all still good to go and who’s doing what,” Sigman said.

If residents lose power, Sigman is working up plans to keep them safe. He expects more information about warming shelters around the county to be available soon.

“We’re prepping with a lot of the fire stations and facilities that have generators. We’re deploying some generators to facilities and making arrangements for where people can shelter,” he said.

The Kanawha Valley Collective is operating a warming center at The Bream Neighborhood SHOP beginning at 7pm on Friday, open from 7pm to 7am each day through Wednesday.

The Centralized Assessment Team office will be open each day from 7am to 7pm.