The white blanket covering Suffolk this morning is likely to be around for awhile.

On Thursday, forecasters predicted that between four and eight inches of snow would hit the city and surrounding localities overnight.

The temperatures will drop down into the teens tonight, only climbing into the low 30s on Saturday, said said Capt. Jim Judkins, the city’s emergency services coordinator. The rest of the next week is not supposed to be much warmer, he said

&uot;The temperatures are not going up too high for the next week,&uot; Judkins said. &uot;It’s going to be at or around freezing for the next week.&uot;

Suffolk Public Schools cancelled today’s classes late Thursday.

The city is closed on both Friday and Monday for Lee-Jackson Day and Martin Luther King’s Day respectively.

The Virginia Department of Transportation began gearing up for the winter storm early Thursday. The Suffolk residency has 560 employees and a fleet of 167 trucks ready to roll as soon as the snow begins sticking to roadways, said Erin Gregg, spokesperson in the VDOT’s office. The agency has set aside 4,000 tons of salt and 2,500 tons of sand to use on the city’s roads.

VDOT is responsible clearing all of Suffolk’s roadways with the exception of the core downtown area of the city, Gregg said. The city cleans those streets.

VDOT’s top priority is sanding and salting the bridges, ramps and overpasses, because they tend to freeze first, Gregg said. It will then deal with the city’s primary roadway, including routes 58, 13, 58 and 460 and interstate 664.

Lastly, VDOT crews begin working to free the city’s rural secondary roadways of snow.