WESTPORT — Classes in the town’s public schools will be canceled Friday, Jan. 7, with officials citing the threat of snow overnight creating hazardous road conditions.

The decision to close schools Friday, Supt. of Schools Thomas Scarice said Thursday evening, is based on the outlook “that the timing of tomorrow morning’s forecasted snowfall is during the heart of our arrival times at the schools.”

It is the second time this week that town schools will be closed by inclement weather. Classes were canceled Wednesday after early-morning icy rain created hazardous road conditions.

Snow, according to the National Weather Service, is expected to start falling across the region about 1 a.m. Friday and continue through the morning.

Total accumulation is forecast up to about four inches, with the NWS issuing a “Hazardous Weather Outlook” for southwestern Connecticut. The agency’s “Winter Weather Advisory” is in effect from midnight Friday through noontime.

Scarice said that, in consultation with Department of Public Works officials, it appears “it will take several hours after the conclusion of snow to be sure local roads and school parking lots are cleared and safe … [which] led to the decision to close all schools and offices.”