CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. — PennDOT crews had their work cut out for them as they started preparing before the storm started, with crews taking on 12-hour shifts over the next two days.
It's not PennDOT's first rodeo dealing with major winter weather.
"Staying ahead of it is going to be an issue," Gary Ishman, York County Maintenance Manager of PennDOT, said. "When it starts snowing two inches an hour it's hard for us to keep up."
Gary said crews will work in 12-hour shifts, beginning noon Wednesday. There are 74 trucks plowing through York County. In the region there are 340 PennDOT department trucks along with eight rental trucks.
Ben Schaun of Camp Hill was just hoping to find a shovel.
"I was actually bummed out because they didn't have the one that I wanted," Schaun said.
Store manager of Ace Hardware store in Lemoyne said the first snow of the season usually brings in panicked customers.
"It's fun, it's exciting, but it's very hectic all at the same time," Mike Leonard, the store manager, said. "We try our hardest to stock as much as possible and it tends to always happen at the last minute."
Because of the lack of snow last year, PennDOT has a large supply of salt - 124 thousand tons of it.
Mother nature could make it difficult to get the roads cleared fast, as we could see inches of snow accumulating every hour.
"We can't keep up with that," Ishman said. "But we'll stay out there. We'll keep battling. We're going to do the best we can with what we got."
Again PennDOT is asking anyone who doesn't need to be out to stay home so plows can clear the roads quicker and more easily.
You can also watch where PennDOT plow trucks are in real time here.