Note: Emergency information follows the story

With a shovel in her left hand and a sled in her right hand for her son, Lauren Lucas was ready for the work and the play accompanying the onslaught of snow hitting the region Friday.

Standing outside Strosniders hardware store in Silver Spring on Friday morning, Lucas said she is "trying to be more prepared," than she was for the season's first major snow storm in December.

Germantown's WeatherBug forecasting service predicted more than two feet of snow would blanket the region this weekend. By Friday evening, an accumulation of two to four inches was forecast, and 18 to 24 inches of additional accumulation through the night.

Residents, businesses and Montgomery County officials were moving quickly in the hours before the flakes began falling Friday. Schools closed early Friday. Evening and weekend activities at county facilities scheduled for Friday night are cancelled. County libraries are closed Saturday and Sunday.

All county liquor stores are closing at 5 p.m. and will remain closed Saturday.

All county community centers, senior centers and aquatic facilities will close at 5 p.m. Friday and reopen Monday, weather permitting, according to the county.

Ride On routes will be moving to peak schedules one hour earlier.

The county had lined up nearly 500 trucks that will plow the roads and spread salt and sand, said county spokeswoman Mary Anderson.

The goal of the first wave of plowing is to clear county evacuation routes and major county roads, such as Shady Grove Road that runs along the border of Gaithersburg and Rockville, Arlington Boulevard in Bethesda, Gainsborough Road in Potomac and Bonifant Street in Silver Spring.

"The most important thing is that we hit those major arterial roads first," Anderson said.

Neighborhood roads will be cleared next. Roads with route numbers are state roads, Anderson noted, and will be taken care of by Maryland trucks and workers.

After the snow storm the weekend before Christmas, it took county crews about 60 hours to clear all county-maintained roads, Anderson said, and it should take about the same amount of time if this snow storm lives up to forecasts.

For fiscal 2009-2010 the county had budgeted $17 million for winter weather operations. Anderson said she could not say how much of that money had been spent before Friday.

There was a line to get into Strosniders hardware store when it opened at 7:30 a.m. Friday, half an hour earlier than usual, said employee Mebratu Teferi. The store's 100 shovels were gone within half an hour, and items like ice melting substances and ice scrapers were also going fast.

"It's not enough what we have right now," said Teferi at about 9:45 a.m. in the crowded store.

Teferi, who said he had been working at the store for almost a decade, later added, "I've never seen it like this before."

Next door to Strosniders at the Whole Foods supermarket, manager Travis Phaup said his store had seen about 1,000 shoppers between 7:30 a.m. and about 10 a.m., much higher than average. The store planned to close early at 4 p.m. Friday, and all of Saturday.

Basic items such as milk, bread and eggs were going fast, he said, but the store also had to account for people shopping for Super Bowl party supplies. He said the store was busier than before the pre-Christmas storm in December.

"We've been busy, but we've been ready," Phaup said.

On Thursday night, the Safeway supermarket in King Farm in Rockville had 12 cashiers in the store to handle the large customer load, which reached three to four times the usual number of people for that time period, said store manager Mike McCarthy.

Everything from nuts, toilet paper and hot chocolate to soup and salt was flying off the shelves.

"They literally buy anything and everything," McCarthy said.

AAA-Mid-Atlantic offers the following driver-safety tips for staying safe in snowy weather:

Before you start driving:

1. Check your automobile's electrical (i.e. battery), exhaust, brake, heating and cooling systems, as well as your tires.

2. Check and clean your windshield before driving. See that your windshield wipers, washer and glass are in check.

3. Keep a winter driving kit in your vehicle. This kit should include a bag of abrasive material, such as sand, salt or cat litter, an ice scraper, cloth or paper towels, a snow shovel, booster cables, a snow brush, a blanket, traction mats, warning flares, flashlight triangles, window-washing solvent and a cell phone.

4. Dress properly for the weather.

5. Clear snow from the ENTIRE body of your vehicle.

Tips for rear-wheel skidding:

1. Continue to look at your path of travel.

2. Steer in the direction you want the front of the vehicle to go.

3. Avoid slamming on the brakes.

4. When the rear wheels stop skidding, continue to steer to avoid a rear-wheel skid in the opposite direction.

Tips for front-wheel skidding:

1. Continue to look where you want to go.

2. Steer in the direction you want the front of the vehicle to go.

3. Avoid slamming on the brakes.

4. Wait for the front wheels to grip the road again. As soon as traction returns, the vehicle will start to steer again.

5. When the front wheels have regained their grip, steer the wheels gently in the desired direction of travel.

Emergency contact numbers

Utilities

Pepco, customer service: 202-833-7500; general information: 202-872-2000.

Alleghany Energy: customer service: 1-800-Allegheny (1-800-255-3443)

Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. (BGE): emergency line: 410-685-0123 or 1-800-685-0123. Report a power outage to 1-877-778-2222.

Washington Suburban Sanitation Commission (WSSC): emergency service line: 800-828-6439.

Public transportation

Ride On bus: 240-777-7433; transit information center: 240-777-7433 or 240-777-5869 (TTY)

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority: www.wmata.com. Weather information line: 202-637-7000.

Metrobus and Metrorail information line: 202-962-1212.

MARC trains: 1-800-325-RAIL (7245)

Montgomery County Public Schools

MCPS emergency information: 301-279-3673.

Police/Fire

In case of emergency, call 9-1-1.

Montgomery County Police Emergency Communications Center: 301-279-8000.

Fire non-emergency: 240-777-0744

Other

For downed trees on public property, call the county Department of Transportation at 240-777-6000.

American Red Cross: 301-588-2515.

Montgomery County 24-hour Crisis Center: 240-777-4000.

On TV

Montgomery County government's cable television channel — County Cable Montgomery (CCM), will feature live coverage of road conditions at all major traffic intersections, beginning at 3 p.m. today. The coverage will continue through 9 a.m. Sunday. CCM is on channel 6 on Comcast and RCN and channel 30 on Verizon.