(NECN: Lauren Collins, Concord, NH) - There are signs all over New England that spring is ready to arrive.
“I am very anxious for it to be spring,” says Robert Demers of Demers Garden Center in Manchester. “I want the frost to break. I want the crocuses and daffodils to bloom and come on up.”
But the foot of snow that could fall Tuesday puts a freeze on those early season preps.
“This is going to put a wrench in things,” says Giant Landscaping co-owner Tim Boyle. “We're gonna have to get geared back up for snow.”
A late winter storm has a snowball effect for landscapers because snow removal is “gonna create some big piles that are gonna be in the way for the next couple of weeks too,” says Boyle. “We hope to start landscaping a week from today actually and that's probably going to be delayed by at least a couple weeks now.”
And over at Demers Garden Center the daffodils and tulips are transient plants: some time out side in the sun, then back in the greenhouse to stay warm and dry.
“Decided to get ready for all our indoor operations such as filling pots, making sure all the green houses are ready so that if it does snow outside, we can work inside without being hampered too much,” says Demers.
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That flexibility is a must for state and local highway crews, like the pot-hole fillers at work in Manchester Monday.
“We could be repairing pot holes one day and plowing the next day,” says NHDOT Public Information Officer Bill Boynton.
A super snowy February ate up most of this year's snow removal budget at the New Hampshire Department of Transportation. This could be a million and a half dollar storm.
“February sort of topped the winter severity index for the last 20 years. And then again when winter extends like this it really starts to eat into what we may use for summer maintenance operations,” says Boynton.
