ST. LOUIS — "This one's going to be tricky," said St. Louis Streets Commissioner Kent Flake.
Flake is talking about a major winter storm that's predicted to blanket the region on Thursday, three days before Christmas.
The arctic blast is supposed to pack freezing rain, snow and whipping winds.
"I've been studying it a little bit watching what it's done up in Minnesota so far, and we just kind of have to wait and see what comes our way," said Flake.
Flake says getting ahead of the storm is key.
Their crews will first pre-treat city streets with a "salt brine liquid" starting at noon on Wednesday and going until noon Thursday.
"Essentially it's just salt water. We spray on the streets before the snow comes. If it's a nice, 25, 30-degree storm then it will actually burn off a half inch, an inch of snow with this storm. However, it's not gonna burn off that much snow," said Flake.
That's because throughout Thursday the temperatures are supposed to keep falling.
The city's next defense: plow truck drivers will take off and spray the streets with lots of salt in an effort to keep them safe for drivers.
"Every snow route in the city, we will hit it at least once," added Flake.
That's 12 routes or roughly 450 miles of city streets.
Thirty-five drivers will be plowing away on 12-hour shifts.
"We have foremen added into that. We also have loaders who will have to load trucks up with salt. Thursday afternoon's rush is gonna be pretty ugly," said Flake.
Most drivers are also bracing for the potentially unprecedented, winter storm.
"I'm staying in where it's nice, warm and safe," said Tan Taylor of St. Louis.
"I'm excited about the snow. We haven't had it in quite a while, so I'm looking forward to it," said Clavin Hadley, also of St. Louis.