Road crews are working double shifts as a blizzard bears down on the Ann Arbor area. Here, snowplows clear roads near Kalamazoo earlier this month.

File photo

Washtenaw County road crews are bracing for the blizzard expected to arrive later today, packing 35 mph winds and dumping up to 12 inches of snow on the area.

Crews will likely work double shifts through Thursday, said Jim Harmon, director of operations for the Washtenaw County Road Commission. "We're ready," he said. "We have all the materials we need."

Snow should begin falling within the next couple of hours, meteorologist Amos Dodson with the National Weather Service in White Lake Township said at 4:30 p.m.

The weather service activated a blizzard warning at 4:21 p.m. effective until 8 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Road Commission crews spent Monday making repairs and getting ready for the storm, Harmon said. "We were concerned that we wouldn't have a full complement of heavy trucks, but our mechanics put in some extra time, and we have 46 trucks to deploy," he said.

Crews were out early this morning dealing with a snowfall of about 1 inch that came overnight, Harmon said. After roads were cleared, they patched potholes as they waited for the storm to arrive.

The day crew will stay on until 8 p.m. to help keep roads clear for the evening rush hour, when a four-person night crew will take over to plow state highways all night long. Those include I-94, US-23, M-14, M-52, US-12 and M-153, he said.

Harmon expects to put all 46 plow trucks to be back on the roads at 4 a.m. Wednesday. The Road Commission will also have seven road graders on duty Wednesday. He anticipates crews will work another 16-hour day, with the four-person crew taking over again at 8 p.m. Wednesday. The full crew will come back again at 4 a.m. Thursday, and Harmon anticipates another 16-hour day.

He urged motorists to stay off the roads if they can. "I think folks should take the storm seriously. If they don't have to drive then don't drive," he said.

The storm had already closed roads and airports from Texas to Rhode Island, The Associated Press reported.

Harmon stressed crews will focus on primary paved roads during the storm. With cold temperatures in the forecast and the volume of snow that's predicted, plowing the roads will be the primary focus of drivers, rather than laying down salt, he said. Salt is not effective at cold temperatures, he said.

The forecast calls for overnight lows in the teens and wind-chill values at or below zero. Snow will accumulate at a rate of 1-3 inches per hours overnight, the weather service predicts.

Crews will tackle unpaved secondary roads and county subdivision streets once the storm is over and main roads are clear. Gravel roads may not be plowed until Friday, he said.

Check AnnArbor.com for updates throughout the storm.