With Cullman County soon to fall under a winter storm warning along with the rest of north Alabama, the Cullman County Commission met on Thursday to declare a countywide state of emergency ahead of the approaching weather system.

The National Weather Service (NWS) issued the winter storm warning to span the overnight hours between 12 a.m. Friday until 6 a.m. Saturday, with forecasters calling for potential snowfall of between 2’’ and 4’’ across the region, as well as potential ice accumulation of up to .1 inch.

“Whatever [precipitation] we get is probably going to stay with us through the weekend,” Cullman Emergency Management Agency (EMA) director Tim Sartin advised the commission on Thursday, as state road crews already had begun applying an ice-deterring brine solution to major area roads and bridges. County engineer Philip Widner said that county road crews also will apply a calcium chloride treatment to major county-maintained roads and bridges on Thursday.

NWS advised that travel “will quickly become hazardous” in the early overnight hours of Friday morning, and that north Alabama residents should prepare for the possibility of power outages if the storm brings a significant accumulation of freeing rain.

The commission also approved the closing of the courthouse and other county facilities on Friday, while authorizing chairman Jeff Clemons to extend the closures in the event of a sustained weather-related emergency.

In addition to monitoring its social media feed on Facebook, EMA advises  Cullman County residents to download the Everbridge public safety app to their mobile devices to receive tailored, real-time alerts about weather, road conditions, and emergency notifications. The Everbridge app is available for both Apple iOS and Android devices through the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Follow Cullman County VOAD (Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster) on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/CullmanCountyVOAD/) for current information about local warming shelter locations, as well as each shelter’s operating policies.

Follow the Cullman County EMA on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/CullmanCountyEMA/) also for shelter information, as well as current weather-related alerts for Cullman County.