The first snowstorm of the season bearing down on our area could bring anywhere from a dusting to more than a foot of snow, depending on who you talk to.

Most forecasters anticipate snow starting late Friday and ending late Saturday, with total accumulations of 4 to 8 inches, according to the National Weather Service; 6 to 10 inches according to AccuWeather, and 1 to 3 inches, according to The Weather Channel.It also depends on where you live, as the snow total line goes right through our region.But towns, power companies, and the state Department of Transportation are preparing for a worst-case scenario.In Jim Thorpe, public service manager Vince Yaich will rely on the borough's Swift Reach one-call service to alert residents of snow-related events."Tomorrow afternoon, the borough will call residents to advise them of a snow event and that there will be no parking on the even side of the street. That will be in effect until the snowfall ends," he said. "Then they will get another call when the even side of the streets are plowed back to the curb and that they should move their cars to the odd side. Once both sides of the streets are plowed, they will get another call that the snow event has ended and normal parking can resume."With forecasts failing to nail down a probable prediction of how much snow will fall, Yaich is playing it safe."We're going on the predicted 5 to 9 inches, which is the last prediction I saw. Our crews will be out Saturday night and Sunday morning. I'll run two 12-hour shifts if I have to."Since this has been a mild winter, our anti-skid and salt bins are full. We'll have no problem getting through this storm," Yaich said.The borough has three 10-ton dump trucks, two three-ton dump trucks, and two pickups with plows."Plus, our public service loader is equipped with a plow if needed," he said.In Palmerton, borough manager Rodger P. Danielson is confident his town is ready, come a dusting or a foot."With this being the first event of the season, all of our equipment is up and running. We're pretty comfortable with where we are," he said."Our guys are rested and our equipment is in good shape. We're well-stocked on salt and anti-skid. We have three main trucks, plus another 4-wheel drive, heavy-duty plow to do our hills," Danielson said."The borough is prepared for overtime. That's been pretty scarce this year, but we try to budget for some. If that's what it takes, we'll have (our crews) out there," he said.Danielson reminds residents to obey the borough's odd-even parking rules."Nothing helps our crews more than having rules adhered to so they can plow back to the curb," he said.Power and roadsSome forecasters expect strong wind gusts on Saturday. That could bring down snow-laden tree branches and power lines."We've been watching the weather forecast, checking our vehicles and equipment, and fine-tuning our response plan," said Ray Connolly, the PPL director who will lead the team restoring any power outages. "If we have outages, our people will be ready."The company works year-round to make the electric system more reliable for customers, including clearing trees from around power lines, installing stronger poles and wires, and using technology to automatically detect outages and reroute power to turn the lights back on for many customers even before repairs are made.PennDOT is also gearing up, said spokesman Ron Young."PennDOT begins preparing for winter in the early fall with meetings, dry runs of snow routes, inspecting equipment, trainings and purchasing materials," he said.The department will be out in force, with 270 rental trucks, 2,200 plow trucks, 175 anti-icing units, 48 snowblowers, and 59 brine making facilities at its disposal.Last year, PennDOT used 11 million gallons of salt brine. Over the past five years, it spent an average of $210 million to make highways safer during winter storms, and used an average of 907,000 tons of salt and 725,000 tons of anti-skid.In District 5 (Carbon, Monroe, Schuylkill, Berks, Lehigh and Northampton counties), PennDOT used 112,580 tons of salt, 1,131,148 gallons of brine, and 62,215 tons of anti-skid last winter. The budget for all that was $20.1 million, but PennDOT actually spent $23.8 million.