Review Photo/ERIC HRIN James Asbury, who works in marketing at Warner Tractor and Equipment Inc. on Route 6 in East Troy, stands by the snow shovels on sale at the business. Due to a winter with low snowfall, they've only sold one this season.

Review Photo/ERIC HRIN James Asbury, who works in marketing at Warner Tractor and Equipment Inc. on Route 6 in East Troy, stands by the snow shovels on sale at the business. Due to a winter with low snowfall, they've only sold one this season.

Area experiences low snowfall this winter

At Warner Tractor and Equipment Inc. in East Troy, sales of snow-related items haven't exactly been brisk this winter.

"We sold one shovel this year," said James Asbury, who works in marketing at the business, located along Route 6.

"As far as snow-related stuff, it's obviously down," he said. "Basically, there's no snow."

On the floor, he pointed to some pallets still loaded up with bags of salt.

From western Bradford County to the Valley, the low snowfall in the area this winter is resulting in less sales of items like snow shovels and salt and less time on snow duty for municipal street and road crews.

"It's definitely way down," said local weather observer Wayne Vanderpool of the snowfall this winter.

He said there has been 8.6 inches of snow this winter. "We should have had 16 inches right now through Jan. 28," he said.

The average season total, he noted, is 47.3 inches.

"The pattern is lots of times, we tend to get our bigger storms more toward the end of the season," he said. Noting that he wasn't making any predictions, he said, "my gut tells me we're going to get some snow yet, just about the time spring arrives. I hope I'm wrong."

Rip Post, a manager at Bishop's True Value Hardware in Ulster, said sales of items like salt and snow shovels are down because of the low snow.

"We're not selling nowhere near as much as we were (in previous years)," he said.

Municipal government officials have a different perspective.

Sayre Borough Manager Dave Jarrett said the mild winter has been a "blessing."

"You obviously don't have the expense of buying the (street) materials, and the wear and tear on the vehicles and the plow blades, and obviously if our public works department is not having to salt or do repairs on trucks, then they are able to do other things," he said. "We've been out patching potholes last week. It frees up your manpower to do other things."

"So far this season, it really hasn't been anything extraordinary one way or the other," he said. "We just keep hoping we continue to have a mild winter, but in the event we do receive substantial snowfalls between now and spring, we're prepared to handle it and we have funds available to purchase enough road salt to keep the roads safe," he said.

Towanda Borough Manager Tom Fairchild said, "So far, we're obviously saving on our expenditures against the funds set aside for snow and ice."

"We had replenished our stockpile of salt and cinders in November 2011 and have not had to purchase any in 2012 -- so far," he continued. "Our labor and equipment have been used on other projects, which is allowing us to catch up on some things. This was not the case in 2011 where we exceeded our budget for labor, equipment, and material by about 22 percent. So far so good, but it always seems to have a way of balancing out."

In western Bradford County, Canton Borough Administrator Amy Seeley said, "We order our winter supplies in the fall, so we have a good supply of materials to finish this winter out."

Seeley said the street department reported that it has more materials now than in previous years due to the low snowfall. She said they have salt and anti skid.

Troy Borough Manager Dan Close stated, "Because we purchase our cinders and salt for the (season) in advance there is no savings for us until next year when we may purchase less due to a reserve stock pile although this could change if we get nailed later in the season. If the current weather pattern continues we could save in 2013."

Eric Hrin can be reached at (570) 297-5251; email: reviewtroy@thedailyreview.com.