Erie natives are no strangers to snow — and their familiar friend/enemy may be back this weekend.

Meteorologist Tom Atkins said snow is expected starting Friday, but the PA Department of Transportation (PennDOT) is ready to keep the snow off our highways.

“At PennDOT, winter preparation is year-round, so we actually have our plow trucks ready to go since October. We’ve been kind of on hold, waiting for the snow to fly, but we have almost a full complement of operators in Erie County, we have about 90 right now,” said Saxon Daugherty, PennDOT District 1 safety press officer.

Daugherty said they have about 52 plow trucks to cover 39 plow routes in Erie County and are not short on salt, equipment or labor ahead of the winter storm.

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But PennDOT isn’t the only organization preparing for winter.

With snow possible on the road this weekend, it’s also time for some property management companies to bring out the old snow plow for those driveways.

“I’ve got my stuff ready now as well, but after the first snowstorm, it really wakes people up, ‘Oh, I need a plow service right now,’ and it gets the ball rolling, but we’re ready for it, ” said Dillon Foringer, President of Foringer Property Maintenance.

Foringer is the only Foringer property maintenance operator, and when you’re piling snow where plow trucks won’t go, he’s there to help.

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He said many of his calls come from people who can’t clear their driveways and people in emergency situations.

“He’s got to be able to go out and go to work, go to school, you know, he’s got to do his job, so it’s like, clearing him for the morning is important and you’ve got to do your due diligence. and if the plow is down, you’re kind of SOL at that point,” Foringer said.

With snow just around the corner, both Foringer and Daugherty urge people to drive safely.

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