Snow shoveling was in full gear as the region received between 10 to 12 inches in the area’s first major snowfall in two years.

The storm dropped quite a bit of snowfall over the Lehigh Valley area as a whole, according to Courtney Travis, a senior meteorologist with AccuWeather.

Travis said that while many in the region had between 8 to 10 inches, some areas received up to a foot of snow. Slatington had about 8 inches, Nesquehoning had 10 inches, while Albrightsville and Brodheadsville had 12 inches.

“I don’t think it was anything the way of a surprise; there was a lot more widespread over 8 inches across the Lehigh Valley,” Travis said. “We just didn’t get quite as bit of a mixing over that area, just a little less sleet mixing in with that snow.”

For snow enthusiasts it was a great weekend. The snow was the perfect consistency for building a snowman and the ski areas delighted in the free base on trails.

Those who had to travel or shovel had a different view.

Mother and daughter duo Margaret and Erin Cody of 323 Iron St. in Lehighton were less than enthused by the amount of snow they had to shovel Sunday morning.

“It’s an inconvenience,” Margaret said. “But, it’s pretty.”

Erin was a bit more blunt in her response.

“I hate it,” Erin said.

Blue Mountain Resort welcomed the snowfall.

“Thanks to 8 inches of snowfall over the weekend, we saw a spike in attendance and were able to open a popular black diamond trail, Razors Edge,” said Ashley Seier, director of marketing. “Our Blue Mountain team is excited for the promising extended forecast to help open the entire mountain. Winter is here.”

Conditions

Several schools were on delays this morning due to the weather conditions.

Lehighton Borough had two public works employees out at 2:30 p.m. Saturday for preliminary road salting, said borough Manager Dane DeWire. At 8 p.m., he said Public Works Superintendent Kris Kunkle called all Public Works staff in to work.

“Crews worked until 5:30 a.m. on Sunday morning to plow streets, move snow, lay salt, and move disabled vehicles,” DeWire said. First Street and the areas around the park have been posted as no-parking areas since 4 a.m. Sunday.

“Crews continue to work on snow removal throughout the borough,” he said.

DeWire said that Kunkle urges that residents do not pile snow in the street without contacting the borough office beforehand.

Carbon County 911 Director Gary Williams said things went pretty smooth despite the storm.

“I think everything went well,” Williams said. The call volume was high at times during some peak hours there.

“Honestly, it was business as usual. It did go very smooth.”

However, Williams urged residents to check with their borough’s parking ordinance.

“I think that would help the borough crews with plowing and getting them out,” he said. I think that’s probably one of the most important lessons we learned with this first storm.”

Monroe County Director of Communications Gary Hoffman said he believes things went well.

“When you consider the significance of the storm, the snow we got, we had no reported incidents where public safety couldn’t get through,” Hoffman said. “Driving in here to work this morning, the roads seemed clear; the biggest concern now is the inbound storm that’s coming that’s going to pose some flooding issues.

“I think the Public Works crews did a great job, I think the traveling public did a great job, too. Typically the first significant storm of the year poses a lot of driving issues, but we didn’t see that.

“I think the pre-emptive news releases about the weather several days out definitely helped.”

Ice, flooding

Travis said multiple storms are on the way in the coming week, including one Tuesday.

She said Tuesday’s storm is anticipated to begin Tuesday by mid to late morning and start of as a wintry precipitation, before changing over to rain by the afternoon.

“There’s a flooding risk we might have with this next storm,” Travis said. “Make sure the snow drains are cleared of snow.”

For those who are already all shoveled out, Travis said the good news is that the storm we just went through projects to be the highest snowfall we should have to deal with, at least for the time being.

“These storms, the combination between both the heavy rainfall and the snow melt, some locations could get as much as 2 to 4 inches of rain,” which could mean a heightened risk of flooding in the Lehigh Valley, she said.

Travis said Tuesday’s high is expected to be 49, and the low 39.