Ocean State prepares for 1st snowstorm of the year

CRANSTON, R.I (WLNE) — The first major winter storm of the season is hitting the Ocean State at the end of February.  

Rhode Islanders have felt lucky so far with the warmer winter they’ve had.  

“We know we have to have some kind of winter, but we haven’t had much, hopefully this isn’t too bad,” Jeff Souter, a Cranston resident, told ABC 6 News.  

Snowplows are being prepared regardless to help clear the roads for the first measurable snow fall of the year.   

“The way the forecast is, we’ll be going into a snow plowing operation, which will be the first one of the year for a major snow fall,” John Corso, city of Cranston Highway Superintendent said.  

Most areas of Rhode Island could see around 6 inches overnight, and hardware store owners say they’re feeling relieved to finally sell off the winter products they’ve had on their shelves.  

“We actually didn’t have to do much to prepare because we’ve been pretty quiet all season long, so were actually pretty thankful were getting some snow today and we’ve had people coming in all day for ice melt, snow shovels,” Ryan Durfee, owner of Durfee Hardware said.  

Durfee told ABC 6 that a company like his can rely on the changing seasons, and he expects the snowfall to bring in at least 25% more customers.  

“Yeah, it does mean dollar signs for not only myself, but also landscapers, who really do depend on that income over the winter time and unfortunately this year we haven’t seen much of a winter yet,” Durfee continued.  

And the plow trucks will be out all night clearing the snow, and laying salt to stay ahead of frozen roads.  

“We’ve been through a lot worse than this, we’ve had a lot larger storms, so we should be good for this,” he said.

Click here for a full list of closures and parking bans around the state.