Snowplows are getting prepped to hit roadways as a winter storm heads towards the region.

The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for northeast Kansas and Northwest Missouri from 8 p.m. Wednesday to 9 a.m. Thursday.  It’s predicting snow accumulations of two to three inches contributing to hazardous driving conditions during that time frame.  The Missouri Department of Transportation was already urging drivers Wednesday morning to stay home if possible Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

“If you don’t need to be out stay home,” said Marty Liles, MoDOT Northwest District Maintenance & Traffic Engineer.

Liles said MoDOT has around 180 trucks in the Northwest District to cover 20 counties.  He said they started evaluating plans for the incoming storm Wednesday morning in talking with officials across the region and looking at the latest forecast from the National Weather Service.

“With this one coming in during the day if it does happen we have people that are going to be watching.  Trucks are already ready to go with their salt and mixed material to start treating as needed.  We also have a night shift planned tonight to help with this snowfall,” Liles said. “Every storm is a little different.”

Liles said he’s expecting to see drier snow and cold temperatures.

“Pavement temperatures are going to get cold, the air temperature is going to be really cold and the snow is going to be drier so it’s not going to stick as well,” Liles said. “They did talk like the winds could be coming in a little more tomorrow and causing a little more drifting.”

Keven Schneider, Interim Superintendent of Streets for the City of St. Joseph said they are continue to monitor the forecast and will make a decision later Wednesday afternoon on if they need to pretreat roads.

“We’ll keep watching the updates as they come in and make a final decision late in the afternoon,” Schneider said. “If we don’t do pretreating.  If it’s a lower percentage what we do is we wait until it actually starts with winter weather.”

The Streets Department has around 14 trucks ready to go.  Schneider said they currently have one or two in the shop.

“The main routes always get hit first.  The designated emergency routes,” Schneider said. “Anytime when there’s winter weather those will 99.9 percent of the time be the best condition out of any of the streets.”

He said around three inches of snow is needed before city crews start plowing.

“If it’s 2.5″ and it’s still coming then yes we will start to plow,” Schneider said. “Or if we get to three and it’s still coming we’ll start to plow.”

However, there is a two hour delay before crews start plowing.

“Once we declare Phase 2 which removes parking from emergency routes…there’s a two hour window before it takes effect.  There’s two reasons, it allows residents to get their vehicles off emergency routes and it also allows us to get the plows mounted and get everything set to get out to plow,” Schneider said. “If you see us coming try to give us a little bit of room.  We hate people getting right behind us and getting salt all over their car.”

The National Weather Service is forecasting the incoming system to be fast-moving with most accumulation taking place overnight. However, NWS said several inches of snow accumulation at cold temperatures could mean potentially snow-covered roads on Thursday morning complicating the morning commute.  Both Schneider and Liles urge drivers, that if they have to get out to take their time, use safe driving practices and be on the lookout for plows.  Liles also urges people to make sure they have plenty of gas and blankets in their vehicles just in case.