MILWAUKEE -- With the biggest storm of Wisconsin’s late-arriving winter in the forecast for Friday, the Brewers have decided to cancel Saturday’s portion of the team’s scheduled “Winter Warm-Up” event.

The National Weather Service said Thursday it expects a storm to hit southeastern Wisconsin beginning Friday morning, bringing sub-zero temperatures, up to six inches of snow along the Milwaukee lakeshore and as much as 12 inches in some areas inland from Friday into Saturday.

That presents a logistical challenge, not only for fans making their way to the Miller High Life Theater in downtown Milwaukee on Saturday morning for what was to be an autograph session and live show, but for players like Jackson Chourio and Christian Yelich who were scheduled to fly into Milwaukee on Friday, said Brewers president of business operations Rick Schlesinger.

“After consulting with airlines and meteorologists, it became clear that travel to the region [on Friday] is likely to be extraordinarily challenging,” Schlesinger said. “With several of our players beginning their travels overnight, we waited as long as possible to cancel in hopes that the forecast would improve. Unfortunately, that has not happened.

“Our players were looking forward to returning to Milwaukee to interact with the fans, and we are disappointed that we can’t make that happen.”

Fans with tickets to the Saturday autograph session and live show will receive an automatic refund in the next seven days, the club said. Refunds will be processed back to the debit/credit card used for purchase.

The Winter Warm-Up also included a series of kids’ clinics on Sunday in New Berlin, Wis., and those will proceed as scheduled, with Brewers Baseball Academy staff and Brewers alumni providing instruction instead of the current players who were scheduled. Fans interested in refunds in advance of the clinic should email the Brewers at [email protected].

The timing of the storm made all the difference. For example, the Cubs’ annual convention is scheduled to proceed this weekend even though Chicago is also in the line of this storm. The reason? Their event begins Friday, so all of the current and former Cubs players already made their way to Chicago on Thursday ahead of the snow.

As the Brewers originally promised, all fans who purchased tickets to the Winter Warm-Up event will receive early access to purchase Opening Day tickets. Those fans should expect a follow-up email on Jan. 16 with information about how to access the presale.

All other questions about ticket refunds should be directed to [email protected], the club said.