The Marathon Co. Highway Dept. has its winter storm plans in place.
"We're getting all of our trucks, making sure the maintenance is done on them and they're ready to go," said Kris Baguhn, the assistant superintendent for the department. "If there's any little thing that needs to be done; lining up the crews to make sure all of the spots are filled."
Baguhn is checking the radar and working with the DOT so all 38 crews know when and where to go out.
"We have 38 total sections in the county of Marathon, 20 state sections, 18 of them are county sections that go at any time there's a storm that covers the county," he said.
Snowfall isn't expected until after midnight, and that's perfect timing since the roads will be mostly empty.
"We may wait a couple hours after the flurries start and then go and send the guys out to keep up with the storm all day Thursday," Baguhn said.
Over at Ace Hardware in Weston, the hand-held snow removal equipment is selling fast.
"Everybody is getting prepared for the storm," said Terry Artis, a store manager. "It's a little hectic, snow blowers, ice melting salt, a lot of snow shovels also. "
The hottest item for the cold this year is the curved-handle shovel. It's supposed to be better for your back than the usual straight handle shovels.
"It's been restocked a couple times today," Artis said. "And yesterday we had people getting ready already. This morning when we came in it was pretty bare. We had to refill it."
Artis says another important item to buy before the storm hits is batteries for flashlights in case there's a power outage.
