News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Alpena Department of Public Works employees make sure salt trucks are ready to roll when needed this weekend. The forecast is calling for up to a foot of snow and some freezing rain is also possible.

ALPENA — Mother Nature is winding up to deliver a haymaker to Northeast Michigan this weekend.

The National Weather Service says an intense winter storm is likely to sweep over the region Saturday and, by the time it moves out over Lake Huron, it could drop more than a foot of new snow in the Alpena area.

Freezing rain is possible prior to the heavy snow, adding to the dangerous conditions.

Today will see little activity, Weather Service meteorologist Sabrina Juernic said, and temperatures will be around 40 degrees, with light winds. That will change Saturday as the storm system approaches. Winds will pick up and snow will begin to fall, with snowfall intensity picking up overnight.

Juernic said Thursday the exact path and intensity of the storm will become clearer this morning as the storm nears. Still, she said, it appears it is going to be nasty and wind gusts exceeding 40 mph could wreak havoc and make travel of any kind difficult.

“It is going to start as a heavy, wet snow, because there will be a lot of moisture with it,” Juernic said. “Then, later Saturday, the dry air will move in and the cold air will turn it to the light and powdery snow. With the winds, there is a good possibility of some drifting from the blowing snow.”

Although the snow is expect to be heavy and winds strong, Juernic said it is unlikely it will meet the criteria to be considered a blizzard.

A blizzard warning requires blowing snow, sustained winds of 35 mph, and visibility of a quarter-mile or less for three consecutive hours.

Juernic said it is uncommon for all three of those to occur, so official blizzards are pretty rare.

Thus far, this winter has been relatively mild, despite an early cold stretch with snow at the end of October and early November.

Juernic wouldn’t rule out a chance that the system’s trajectory could change enough for Northeast Michigan to escape a large dumping of snow and see rain instead, but she said it was unlikely.

“There is a chance that it could shift a little one way or another and some areas could get less than what is forecasted now and other areas more,” she said. “Some areas could get six inches and others 12 or more. It is a pretty strong storm. We’ll have a much better idea on the precipitation amounts Friday.”

On Thursday, the Weather Service issued a special weather advisory calling for a mix of light snow and freezing drizzle and for high winds which could produce coastal flooding.

Juernic said there is a good chance there could be additional advisories, watches, or warnings leading up to Saturday.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.