Expect travel to be affected this weekend as a significant winter storm is predicted to blanket northern Illinois with at least six inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service.

DeKalb County Engineer Nathan Schwartz, who heads the county’s snowplow team, advised travelers to make cautious decisions this weekend.

“The first significant snowstorm of the year tends to cause a lot of crashes,” Schwartz said. “Even though people are expecting it, they aren’t tuned into their winter driving skills yet. So we really encourage everybody to slow down, give themselves extra time to arrive to their destinations. And give snowplows and emergency personnel extra room during this winter season.”

DeKalb County residents should prepare for snow to begin sometime early Saturday morning and continue until Sunday. DeKalb will be under a winter storm warning from 3 a.m. Saturday until 6 a.m. Sunday, according to an urgent message posted by the National Weather Service on Friday morning.

Weather officials wrote that “travel could be very difficult” during the winter storm, which will cover roads in snow.

“If you must travel, keep an extra flashlight, food, and water in your vehicle in case of an emergency,” a National Weather Service official wrote in the winter storm warning.

While the snowfall is expected to subside by Sunday morning, a different part of the winter storm could continue to hamper travel conditions through the end of the weekend. Schwartz said he thinks “the bigger issue is going to be the winds.”

“The winds are going to be blowing and gusting pretty good, pretty high, over the next couple of days, including after the snow ends on Sunday morning,” Schwartz said. “The winds are still going to be blowing the snow around and are going to be probably a pretty strong nuisance through Sunday night, and of course, there will have to be some more clean up then on Monday and maybe even into Tuesday.”

Southeasterly winds could gust up to 30 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

The roads in DeKalb County are plowed by a variety agencies, ranging from townships and residential agreements to cities to the Illinois Department of Transportation. The DeKalb County Highway Department is among those groups tasked with clearing roads during winter weather.

The county’s highway department is responsible for clearing about 190 miles of roadways, but because there are two lanes, Schwartz says plows have to cover at least double that distance to clear the roads during winter weather events.

Schwartz said it takes between three to four hours for the county’s fleet of a dozen snowplow trucks to complete a round of plowing those roads.

“All of our guys, all of our drivers and our trucks are ready to go at the current time,” Schwartz said Friday morning. “We do have backup trucks, in case something were to have some sort of mechanical issue.”