With a winter weather advisory in effect Tuesday night and Wednesday morning for Southeast Virginia, the Virginia Department of Transportation was preparing Tuesday afternoon to pre-treat area interstates, bridges and overpasses with an anti-icing agent.

Pre-treating the road with anti-icing chemicals before a storm helps keep snow and ice from forming a bond with the road, VDOT spokesperson Tia E. Freeman said in a press release.

Transportation crews were set to continue monitoring road conditions throughout the night to determine the need for any additional treatments.

At 2:13 p.m. Tuesday, the National Weather Service in Wakefield issued a winter weather advisory, effective from midnight Tuesday until noon on Wednesday. Included in the advisory area were all of Hampton Roads, along with Prince Edward, Lunenburg, Nottoway, Dinwiddie, Prince George, Surry and Isle of Wight counties and the cities of Farmville, Petersburg and Hopewell in Virginia. In North Carolina, the advisory included the counties of Gates, Pasquotank, Camden, Currituck, Chowan and Perquimans, as well as the cities of Elizabeth City, Edenton and Corolla.

The weather service estimated there was an 80-percent chance of precipitation Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, with snowfall expected to begin after 1 a.m. and to end around noon on Wednesday.

Snow accumulation of up to three inches was expected.

Bethanne Bradshaw, public information officer for Suffolk Public Schools, said a team of administrators will hit the roads about 3 a.m. to look for icy patches, snow accumulation and other signs that the roads are too dangerous for the school buses to be out.

Parents can monitor area television and radio stations for the system’s decision, she said. Any schedule change also would result in an announcement on the school system’s Web site, www.spsk12.net, along with a message via the system’s new telephone notification system, she said.

A similar forecast Jan. 19 led school administrators to close Suffolk’s public and private schools on Jan. 20, although the city wound up getting only a few flurries and no accumulation of snow.

Wednesday’s high temperature was expected to be in the mid-30s, but the weekend could bring warmer weather, with highs in the mid-60s.