As people stock up on bread, milk and snow shovels ahead of the projected winter storm tonight and tomorrow, the state Department of Transportation, PPL Electric, and local hospitals are getting ready, too.

"As of 12 a.m. District 5 has a full call out and activated the District Incident Command Center in Allentown," said PennDOT spokesman Ron Young. "A full call out is 209 trucks. We have the ability to call up another 30-plus private contractor trucks if necessary, and our central office may move some trucks from other parts of the state not affected by this storm to the areas expected to get heavier accumulations."Young said PennDOT won't be applying anti-icing material because there is still salt residue on roads from Saturday's storm.The department will be on the on until all state roads are clear, he said.Statewide PennDOT is responsible for 95,939 snow lane miles. If a road is one mile and has four lanes, that is four lane miles," Young said.District 5 is responsible for 8,321 snow lane miles. Carbon County has 617 snow lane miles, and Schuylkill County has 1,509 snow lane miles.PennDOT's annual winter budget this winter is $203 million, and the District 5 winter budget is $17.1 million.Of that, Carbon County's share is $1.6 million and Schuylkill's is $3.8 million.But this winter seems to be pulling its punch, at least so far."As far as a comparison to last year, by this time last year we used about 80,500 tons of salt, and as of Jan. 22 this year we used about 34,500 tons," Young said.On Sunday, Gov. Tom Wolf met with regional PennDOT executives and equipment operators to review preparations. "PennDOT storm managers have been reviewing weather forecasts and assembling crews from the ranks of the agency's 5,400 equipment operators, who will be working shifts 24-7 during the duration of the winter weather. PennDOT has 2,250 trucks, 235 rental trucks and 200 trucks on standby across the state to respond to the weather." Wolf said.Going into the weekend, PennDOT had more than 600,000 tons of salt on hand. So far this winter, PennDOT has used 350,000 tons and is running slightly lower than the five-year average winter usage. PennDOT estimates it has enough salt reserves to handle roughly 18 to 20 storms.Drivers can see road conditions and other real time travel information by dialing 511 or visiting

www.511PA.com. 511PA is also available through a smartphone application for iPhone and Android devices.Once people get to where they are going and home again, PPL wants to make sure the lights are on.Given the forecast of gusty winds and heavy snow, PPL is working ahead to avoid power outages, said spokesman Bryan R. Hay."Right now, we're watching the weather," he said. "We monitor it regularly. We're prepared and ready to respond as quickly and as safely as possible to any problems from this weather that's coming. Our crews are ready to respond as needed."Haye said work to prevent storm outages is continual."Our work to make our system weather more resistant goes on all year long. We've been installing stronger poles and doing more tree trimming work. Tree damage is the cause of a lot of power outages," he said. "Our installation of smart grid equipment helps us reroute power around damaged areas and limits outage durations."Local hospitals are ready, too, for those who overdo the shoveling."We go into our winter weather plans well ahead of every possible storm, we check on staffing such as who is working the shifts, where they live, help them plan to get in to work prior to the storm," said Blue Mountain Health System spokeswoman Lisa Johnson. "But in health care, we are always working to make sure we are at the ready in the event of patients coming in with chest pain, muscle strains, fall injuries such as concussions."And to be ready, hospital staff are required to show up, regardless of the weather conditions."Work overnight, drove home in it this morning. No snow days in health care. People need to be taken care of 365," Christina Rehrig, who works for a home health care company, wrote on the Times News Facebook page.