Emergency officials geared up for a nasty nor’easter packing high winds, heavy rains and snow that is expected to hit the central Maine area about midday today.

Androscoggin County officials readied their plans Saturday as they waited for detailed forecasts.

The National Weather Service, as of late Saturday, was calling for the snow to begin in central Maine about noon.

“Two degrees could make all the difference,” said Joanne Potvin, the county’s Emergency Management Agency director. “It could go one way or the other, all rain or all snow.”

Flooding in the Lewiston-Auburn area seemed unlikely, she said. However, lots of rain might also cause some roads, already soft this time of year, to swiftly erode. Also, wind or heavy snows might foul power lines causing outages.

Potvin planned to take part in a statewide conference call at 2 p.m. today as emergency officials get an update from the National Weather Service.

“The information should be a lot better,” she said.

Oxford County

Oxford County EMA Director Scott Parker said early Saturday evening that he would continue to assess the incoming storm with responders, fellow EMA directors and meteorologists.

“My advice is, to do all your shopping tomorrow, and early,” he said, laughing during a phone interview from his home in Bethel.

But seriously, since being made aware of the powerful nor’easter, Parker said he has continuously checked with local EMAs and fire chiefs across the county to best determine a plan of action.

As of Saturday, Paris fire Chief Brad Frost will keep the fire station open Sunday night as a warming center for road crews and firefighters.

“I haven’t made any shelters available yet, but I will make that decision by midday on Monday. It will depend on how many hours we will be without power, because nobody in Oxford County gets very excited if the power’s off for only 24 hours,” he said.

When the time comes, if it comes, Parker expected shelters to be opened in Fryeburg, the Oxford Hills area, and SAD 43 in the Rumford and Mexico area. Opening a shelter at a SAD 43 school will be done quickly should the need arise, he added, because there are a lot of people living in high-rises, which will be more susceptible to power outages.

“Clearly, this will be a little more of a storm than the past two, with very high winds coming. The wind is going to push heavy trees down on (Central Maine Power) lines, and CMP will be pushed a lot harder, taking care of multiple counties unlike what they did with the past storm,” Parker said.

As of Saturday, CMP employees, and road crews and firefighters in large Oxford County towns were already gearing up and getting sand trucks loaded and ready to roll.

Parker said he will participate in the 2 p.m. conference call today to MEMA officials and other services to reassess where the storm will hit first, when, and at what intensity.

“At this point, a lot of it is speculation, because it’s a pretty tight storm. It could still go out to sea,” he said.

One main concern that was discussed months ago and revived at a meeting Friday is that inland shelters could see a large influx of coastal residents.

“My contention is that if things go bad on the coast and people begin moving inland, if they can’t open shelters on the coast, then we will have to open more shelters inland. Just because nothing’s happening in Oxford County yet won’t rule out the early opening of shelters,” Parker said.

Franklin county

“Right now, all I know is what the news is telling us,” Franklin County EMA Director Tim Hardy said by phone from Farmington early Saturday evening. “And, they’re not giving us anything definitive. What’s going to happen is still up in the air. It will depend on where the rain/snow line falls.”

On Saturday, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency began preparing for the coastal flooding and swollen streams and rivers expected to accompany the storm, said spokesman Peter Judge. State officials continued to monitor the weather and, even briefly discussed canceling Monday’s 111th running of the Boston Marathon, he said.

The severe weather system is blamed for three deaths on Kansas’ highways covered with ice and slush. One man was killed in Fort Worth by a pile of lumber that fell on him from his truck during the storm.

By Saturday afternoon, the system was spreading rain from Louisiana to Virginia and across much of the Ohio Valley. Lines of strong thunderstorms rolled across Louisiana and Mississippi into northern Alabama, and the National Weather Service posted tornado warnings for wide areas of Mississippi and some parts of Alabama.

The weather system was forecast to strengthen when it reaches the East Coast on Sunday and form a nor’easter, a storm that follows the coast northward, with northeasterly wind driving waves and heavy rain.

As much as 1 foot of snow could fall on areas with colder air in Maine and upstate New York, Simpson said.

Boston Marathon

Winds as high as 50 mph will gust along coast and could linger into Monday, slowing marathon runners and causing discomfort on the 26.2-mile course from Hopkinton to Boston.

Simpson said runners will likely be spared the storm’s strongest gusts and heaviest rains, which should relent by Sunday night. Marathoners probably still will face swirling winds and a wet course, he said.

“They are running so hard, it might be some good conditions if the winds aren’t right in their face,” Simpson said. “But a 20 mph wind is still pretty stiff when you’re running that long.”

Judge said state safety officials are now confident the race can continue as scheduled, but if Sunday’s expected weather lingered into Monday with the same intensity, hypothermia and flooding on the route would be concerns.

“There were serious discussion on the medical side to see if this race could go off without a hitch and be safe for 23,000 runners,” he said. “The early forecast sounded biblical, but it’s not like baseball where you can postpone it and say we’re going to do it again tomorrow. But, now, I think, everyone feels comfortable.”

The National Weather Service has issued a flood watch for most of the New England Region. Simpson said there’s particular concern for immediate coastal flooding on Sunday, followed by overflowing streams and rivers in urban areas in the days after the storm.

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