NICHOLAS COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) – For the last two weeks, the West Virginia Department of Highways has been doing dry runs -- checking trucks and equipment -- to make sure they’re ready for the first winter storm of the season.

"We've been testing the boxes out and our plows out and calibrating the boxes for the material,” said John Jarrell, administrator for the Department of Highways in Nicholas County.

And now that they’re fueled up and filled up, the trucks are hitting the highways – even before the first flake hits the ground.

"Anytime during a storm like this one, we'll probably have 15 trucks out on the road," Jarrell said.

That means 15 trucks cover Nicholas County’s 650 square miles, treating and plowing the roads.

But the most important thing the DOH in Nicholas County does is make sure they’re prepared for what’s coming.

"We get a weather forecast every morning from the district office, which comes out of the central office and they email it to us," Jarrell said. "We watch it, plus we keep The Weather Channel on at all times and keep a watch on the weather."