Snow is not on the forecast for Beaufort County, but winter weather will none-the-less be settling in over the weekend.

Heavy rain and gusty winds are expected to roll into the area on Saturday, with the storm’s peak ferocity occurring between late Saturday night and early Monday morning, according to Chris Collins, a National Weather Service meteorologists at Newport/Morehead City.

While areas in western North Carolina are expecting up to a foot of snow, and about 3 inches is forecasted for the Raleigh area, Beaufort County residents have different issue to be concerned with — flooding.

“With the persistent, strong east, northeast winds, all the water levels will be up,” Collins said. “The persistence of it will be the determining factor. This is going to last for a couple of days. It could be significant because of the strong winds.”

Beaufort County Emergency Management staff is also keeping an eye on the storm, according to Chris Newkirk, chief of fire/emergency services.

“We’re really not expecting any snow, but it does look like we can expect some heavy bands of rain,” Newkirk said. “We’re watching it. There’s just a lot of uncertainty in the forecast.”