If you don’t have to drive in this weekend’s snowstorm, don’t drive, meteorologist Tom Hawley of the National Weather Service said Friday. Snow will be intense and so will the winds, with gusts to 50  and 55 mph possible, Hawley said in a telephone interview from the weather service’s Gray office.

Feet-high snow drifts may give road crews a tough time keeping roads clear, Hawley said. And visibility will be poor, probably poorest when the falling snow is most intense, from about 10 p.m. Saturday to about 10 a.m. Sunday. The snow will start in Lincoln County between about noon and 3 p.m Saturday and continue until Sunday night or early Monday, Hawley said. Expect about 12 to 18 inches of new snow, both on the coast and inland.

“The (forecast) models are very, very consistent at this point,” Hawley said. Blizzard watches are in effect for Lincoln County and all of coastal Maine, he said.

Adding to the reasons to stay inside will be temperatures in the single digits. However, the cold presents a silver lining: It will make the snow lightweight, helping to reduce chances for power outages, Hawley said. There could be scattered outages from branches breaking in the strong winds, he said.

By the time Midcoast residents finish digging out from this weekend’s storm, they may have only a small respite before another round of snow that’s possible for next Wednesday or Thursday; however, that system could go far enough east to spare the region, Hawley said.

Lincoln County Emergency Management Agency Director Tod Hartung is looking forward to the smell of cut grass.

“It’ll be awesome,” he said. “And spring is five weeks away.” As the latest storm approached, he urged residents to prevent carbon monoxide emergencies by making sure the vents on their homes and the tail pipes of any parked vehicles are clear of snow.