SIDNEY - A late winter storm on track to hit the Sidney region is expected to drop very heavy snow and create blizzard conditions this weekend, according to the National Weather Service office in Cheyenne.

The NWS says the primary time frame for "major to potentially extreme impacts" will be Saturday morning through Sunday night. A winter storm watch has been issued for all counties in the Nebraska Panhandle, northeast Colorado and southeast Wyoming from 5 a.m. Friday through 3 p.m. Sunday.

WeatherEye Meteorologist Laura Lockwood is monitoring the storm and cautions we're still a few days from the storm hitting the region, but 15 to 22 inches of snow is forecast along and north of a line from Cheyenne, Wyo. to Sidney, Neb.

"It'll be a pretty solid swath, because it does dip down into northeastern Colorado, as well. It's pretty far out, so it's not something that we would want to say, 'this city and this city is going to be seeing this much at this point in time.' This looks to be the area of concern that we're really focusing on."

Winds could gust as high as 40 mph, creating difficult to impossible travel conditions. The weather service says travel will be impacted Friday through Sunday and to prepare for possible blizzard conditions.

According to Lockwood, it's time to start taking steps to prepare for the storm

"You just want to make sure you have stuff, so you don't have to travel if you don't have too. The best thing to do is to just stay inside. Make sure you have the food and water you need. Make sure your lines are cleared out. Your typical winter prep is what you want to be doing with this situation."

She says to have extra batteries and everything is charged, just in case the heavy snow and gusty winds cut power.

Snow emergencies have been issued in Kimball, Chadron and Morrill.

Kimball Street Superintendent Jim Shoup asks citizens to not park on Chestnut Street from 1st St. to 4th St., and 2nd St. from Howard St. to Oak St., from Saturday evening and Sunday evening. Emergency snow routes are labeled with street signs.

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