Both Farmer’s Almanac and the National Weather Service are calling for higher precipitation than usual for the region. The two entities are split on temperatures, with the NWS leaning toward slightly higher than usual and Farmer’s predicting “shivery.”

Municipalities in Warren County are getting ready.

In the City of Warren, a new storage shed is up and will be ready for use when the concrete floor has cured.

The bulk of the work on the facility was done in-house by Department of Public Works crews. Chris Snyder of C.S. Contracting provided expertise and equipment for pouring the 78 yards of concrete from Jamestown Macadam for the floor.

Times Observer photo by Brian Ferry City of Warren Department of Public Works crews work with C.S. Contracting and Jamestown Macadam to pour a concrete floor for the new DPW materials storage shed.

“We’re in pretty good shape for winter,” DPW Director Mike Holtz said. “As far as materials go, we had a fair amount of materials left over from last year.”

With prices going up, the city placed an order for more in advance.

“The city ordered a little more before the price changed… tried to get our sheds full at last year’s prices,” Holtz said. “Salt was a little higher per ton this year.”

Those materials are stored in the long-standing sheds at the DPW garage. The new shed will be ready in about 30 days.

The trucks are “good to go” and there are personnel ready to get behind the wheels, he said.

Times Observer photos by Brian Ferry City of Warren Department of Public Works crews work with C.S. Contracting and Jamestown Macadam to pour a concrete floor for the new DPW materials storage shed.

The city is hoping it has time to deal with leaves before snow.

“Leaves are such a big deal for the city,” Holtz said. “We spend the next seven or eight weeks leafing. We hope the leaves all get picked up before the snow.”

It’s been a pretty normal winter-prep season in Tidioute, although an early one.

“We have been working on preparations for a while now,” Borough Manager Crystal Heenan said.

“So far we have replenished our salt stockpile, performed routine maintenance on our trucks and equipment, ensuring that our equipment is in good working condition and winter ready.”

“We have even been discussing replacing a spreader which is in poor condition now, while the item is available, rather than wait and not be able to get it or have the price increase.”

Sheffield Township has a state contract in place for salt. “Nothing unusual that we are aware of yet,” Secretary/Treasurer Kristi Kulka-Leichtenberger said. “Time will tell.”

Youngsville Borough is in good shape. At Monday’s council meeting, DPW Foreman Mark Theuret informed the council members that both salt and anti-skid for the season were at the shed and ready to go.