BATON ROUGE — On Thursday, Gov. Jeff Landry and other state leaders met to discuss preparations for this weekend's severe winter weather. 

Watch the news conference:

The state is expected to receive subfreezing temperatures starting on Saturday, with the possibility of winter precipitation and icy roads. 

Landry said he signed a state of emergency allowing direct state assistance to help with citizens' health and safety at the parish level, and it allows the state to request a waiver for commercial motor carriers and drivers assisting with emergencies in an effort to prevent shortages.

He said he is expecting "significant impacts" starting Friday in the northwestern parishes with "artic air" that will hang around into the next week. He said many of the southern parishes would also be affected, but it would especially affect central and north Louisiana.

Landry brought up last year's snowstorm, saying he'd rather "have a snowstorm than an ice storm."

"An ice storm is going to create power outages, especially if we get the amount of ice [that is projected]," Landry said. He said to counteract this, the Public Service Commission ensured utilities' crews will work "around the clock based upon the weather at that time, and coordinate with our agencies to restore utilities as quickly as possible."

To prepare, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development crews in the Baton Rouge area are loading trucks with salt to send to staging areas across the region ahead of possible winter weather this weekend.

He also urged people, once the event starts, not to go outside and to go on the road due to ice on the road. He also asked people to stay off the road in the coming days until the ice cleared.