By Mark Woolsey

Here we go again.

Cobb County was put under a winter storm warning late this morning as forecasters predict up to 2 inches of snow with some locally higher amounts and possible wind gusts of up to 35 miles per hour. The warning is in effect from 1 a.m. Saturday to 1 a.m. Sunday.

The culprits are an upper-level low expected to drop down out of Canada and into the southeast, teaming up with a very cold arctic airmass.

Governor Brian Kemp issued a statewide state of emergency ahead of the system and ordered activation of the state’s emergency operations center effective at noon today. He says the declaration will allow for faster movement of and staging of state resources.

It’s also designed to prevent price-gouging and suspends some regulations on truckers responding to the storm.

State officials say the Georgia Department of Transportation is well prepared for the upcoming storm and has begun treating more than 20 thousand lane miles on interstates and state routes in the storm’s path. Crews are working in 12-hour shifts.

Once snow begins to fall, state crews will shift to plowing operations.

DOT officials say crews are concentrating on high traffic-volume areas first and also giving high priority to routes leading to hospitals and urgent care centers.

Preparedness officials say drivers can help storm crews by staying off the roads, beginning Friday evening, giving brining trucks and snowplows needed access to do their work. Another reason to leave the car or truck parked: even minor accumulations on roads could lead to tricky travel.

Officials say if you must travel: keep an extra flashlight, food, water and blankets in your vehicle.

At the more local level, Cobb DOT officials are pretreating more than 560 miles of county roads with a brine solution and will continue to do so until early Saturday, then will respond to conditions as they develop. Cobb DOT Director Drew Raessler said this marks the second consecutive weekend that crews will operate around the clock and work 12- hour shifts.

Cobb EMC officials told the Courier they are closely monitoring the potential for snow and gusty winds situation and have plenty of crews, trucks and equipment standing by to handle potential outages.

Meteorologists say the combination of gusty winds and possibly heavy snow could act to bring down both trees and power lines.

Arctic high pressure will move in behind the system producing unusually chilly temperatures. The National Weather Service has issued an extreme cold warning from 7 p.m. Saturday until 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Wind chills could plunge to a low as 6 below zero Saturday night, when the air temperature low will be in the low teens. High temperatures on Saturday will struggle to get to the mid 20s.

Forecasters say below freezing temperatures could persist for a continuous 48-60 hours.

They’re issuing warnings about frostbite on exposed skin and the danger of ruptured pipes as temperatures plunge.

Both Cobb County and Marietta City Schools have cancelled weekend activities due to the inclement weather.

The MUST ministries warming shelter remains open.

It’s at the HOPE House, 1297 Bells Ferry Road.