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<p>Brace yourselves for a one-two punch, followed by bitter cold.</p><p>As you read this, the ground may already be white, with snow showers potentially bringing accumulations of an inch or more to the region by Friday morning.</p><p>But that&#8217;s just the beginning.</p><p>A winter storm moving into the region this weekend is expected to dump 6 to 12 inches of snow with the potential of a mix of sleet and freezing rain beginning Saturday morning into late Sunday afternoon, according to the latest forecast from the National Weather Service in Binghamton, N.Y.</p><p>Northern tier counties and the extreme northwestern area of Luzerne County, near Ricketts Glen State Park, could receive additional accumulations of up to 18 inches of snow.</p><p>Snowfall rates could reach one to two inches per hour during the weekend&#8217;s storm.</p><p>As the storm moves away, an arctic blast of cold air will settle into the region resulting in blowing snow and wind chills of -15 to -20 degrees Sunday night through Monday. Wind speeds will frequently gust to 20 to 30 mph and possibly higher, the NWS reported.</p><p><strong>City preparing</strong></p><p>Wilkes-Barre Department of Public Works&#8217; crews will be out for the first bout of snow to clear the roads for the Friday morning commute, said Butch Frati, director of operations for the city.</p><p>The heavier lift will come on the weekend.</p><p>&#8220;It doesn&#8217;t look like it&#8217;s going to miss us,&#8221; Frati said. The city has been monitoring the forecasts in preparation for the storm that&#8217;s going to bring a mix of snow at first, ice and freezing to follow and possibly end with snow and frigid temperatures.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re going to staff it completely. We have 15 pieces of equipment. We&#8217;re going to run it &#8216;til it&#8217;s over,&#8221; Frati said. &#8220;We&#8217;ll have enough vehicles out in every area (of the city).&#8221;</p><p>The city does not pre-treat the roads with brine like the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation does because they don&#8217;t get the traffic in order for the solution to be effective, Frati explained. &#8220;We may put a little bit of a layer (of salt) on bridges and hills,&#8221; he said.</p><p>The city&#8217;s salt shed is full and the crews will be on duty Monday, the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday.</p><p>&#8220;If we need to have an additional day to clean up that is a good thing,&#8221; Frati said.</p><p><em>Staff writer Jerry Lynott contributed to this report.</em></p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>6-12 inches of snow, sub-zero wind chills</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Ed Lewis</p><p>elewis@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>Check the forecast</strong></p><p>Detailed weather map, <strong>10A</strong></p></factboxMeta></div>

Latest forecast for weekend winter storm: 6-12 inches of snow, sub-zero wind chills