Parts of Pennsylvania bracing for a taste of winter with rain, snow
After months without any measurable rain, Bob Wilfinger said he is ready for a small taste of winter.
"I'm happy, we'll take anything that gives us water," Wilfinger said.
On Thursday, Wilfinger was shopping inside Albright's Hardware & Garden Center in Allentown where snow shovels are now hanging on the wall, bags of ice melt are piled on the floor, and snow blowers are front and center.
"I'm glad to see the snow. Yes, it's always great, I have grandchildren, love to see it," Wilfinger said.
"It's been nice and steady. Some people are talking about it. Some people are saying, 'Ah, it's not going to happen,' so you get both here. But some people are concerned, I think," said Griffin Daly, manager at Albright's.
Daly said most of the snow supplies on display are left over from last year's mild winter. He's hoping the chance for snow showers in the Lehigh Valley can help boost the family-owned store after a dry and sluggish fall.
"I wouldn't want to see like a 24-inch snow, but I'd like to see three or four or six or seven inches of snow starting now into the springtime," Daly said.
To keep track of any accumulations, PennDOT's traffic management center, which is filled with dozens of cameras, has been activated. A team will monitor the road conditions as crews work around the clock to keep roads passable.
PennDOT said it has about 90,000 tons of salt at the ready, but with rain coming down Thursday, PennDOT said crews are not pre-treating the roads because the material would just wash away.
"We're ready, we're fully loaded. We have all of our trucks ready. We have all our stock poles ready, our crews know when it hits winter season they are on 12-hour shifts," said Ron Young, PennDOT's District 5 press officer.