BY ANDY TAYLOR

Area residents are bracing for an early-spring storm that is expected to dump wintry precipitation on southeast Kansas, including Montgomery County.

Jim Miller, Montgomery County Emergency Preparedness Director, said Montgomery County will be on the eastern fringe of the cold front when it rolls into the region late Friday night and continuing through Saturday afternoon. He said that after conferring with the National Weather Service in Wichita on Thursday, he anticipated seeing a mixture of persistent rain followed by heavy snow.

Compounding the wintry precipitation will be high winds up to 35 miles per hour from the north. Those gusts will keep temperatures down and also blow snow into drifts. Travel is discouraged during the cold front.