Before the snow starts falling, Dean Tracy fills up two buckets of sand Friday at the John Charest Public Works Facility in Augusta. City residents are allowed to pick up two buckets there. The Augusta, Waterville and Skowhegan areas are expected to get 8 to 12 inches of snow by Saturday. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

What’s expected to be the season’s biggest storm to date could dump up to a foot of snow across central Maine by Saturday.

The Augusta, Waterville and Skowhegan areas are expected to get 8 to 12 inches of snow, with the majority of the snow falling Friday night, according to meteorologist Stephen Baron at the National Weather Service in Gray.

The storm was initially expected to hit the Augusta and Waterville area Friday around noon, and prompted the closure of many local schools earlier that morning. No more than an inch of snow had accumulated by the late afternoon.

By mid-morning Friday, the snow had not yet started but schools in the capital area such as the Augusta School Department, Readfield-area Regional School Unit 38, Hallowell-based RSU 2 and Chelsea-area RSU 12 announced plans to release students early. The Winthrop Public Schools and Gardiner-area Maine School Administrative District 11 opted not to have school at all Friday.

In the Waterville area, Oakland-area RSU 18 and Unity-based RSU 3 dismissed students at noon and the Waterville Public Schools followed its early dismissal schedule.

Additionally, state offices closed at 1 p.m. Friday due to “heavy snow.”

News Center Maine snowfall map

City officials in Waterville announced an overnight winter parking ban downtown and at The Concourse from midnight to 6 a.m. Saturday and Sunday to allow the public works crew to clear roads. Overnight parking is allowed at the municipally owned lot at Head of Falls.

The forecast for the Augusta and Waterville areas are similar because of the way the storm is pulling in, Baron said. He predicted Friday morning that the rain and heavy sleet would turn to snow by the afternoon and would be heaviest from then into the evening, including during the time folks typically commute home.

“I expect people to be cautious — the roads will be slippery,” Baron said. “The state does a good job with plowing and the intensity isn’t something they can’t keep up with, but I still advise people to be cautious and to expect slippery spots.”

Winds are expected to be around 25 mph, but will be more intense on the coast around Portland.

The storm will continue Friday night into Saturday, culminating by 4 p.m. Saturday night with some “lingering snow” but nothing that will collect, Baron said.

The National Weather Service in Gray has issued a winter storm warning until Sunday at 12 a.m.