During the majority of the cleanup and start of recovery Monday, city and municipal officials expressed their appreciation to those who prepared, who performed tasks such as blowing or shoveling snow, made text or calls to elderly or shut-ins and who did not wait until the last second to relocate their vehicles off the streets so plow truck drivers could make safe passes.

A city public works department official noted in a telephone call Monday that most city residents, for the most part, complied with removing vehicles, but there always are those who do not or cannot and that causes delay for the crews. Most of the plow truck workers and crews in Williamsport and other locales had been prepared asking residents via the media to try and remove cars and vehicles off the street, if at all possible.

Scott Livermore, city public works department director, told the Sun-Gazette at 12:15 p.m. Monday the crew was out non-stop during the storm, and he was rotating personnel and he had a few workers continuing with cleanup on Monday as he wanted all of the crews that had worked to have rest.

He noted the cleanup included the piles of snow downtown or otherwise known as the Central Business District and that piles of snow would be hauled away probably starting Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to the parking lot outside of Bowman Field.

He noted how the crews had started to plow the alleys as of Monday after primary streets were cleared.

He added that while the city ordinance requires snow and ice cleared off sidewalks the crews had to push snow off streets so he said he believed there would be a fair amount of leniency from the city officials enforcing that. It is also getting bitterly cold.

Fire prevention and quick access to water is a different story. All fire hydrants near streets should always have 3 feet around clearance and a path to the street for firefighters in event of any emergencies, including on any lingering piles of snow.

Across the region reports were favorable by those managing snow emergency declarations and in recovery mode.

“South Williamsport fared well with the snowstorm,” said Steven W. Cappelli, borough manager and its public safety director.

“We had worked our team in crews throughout yesterday and early this morning,” he said Monday at 9:30 a.m.

“We experienced a high level of resident cooperation with our odd-even parking requirement which enabled us to more effectively open and clear streets,” he said.

“Today, we are clearing the odd side of streets where people parked their vehicles yesterday,” he said Monday.

“A big salute to the borough’s public works team members for their dedication and professionalism,” Cappelli said.

The same appreciation applied to Muncy borough where Mayor Craig Scruggs had declared a snow emergency. A big shout-out of appreciation to the residents is due, said Charles Hall, Muncy borough manager.

Hall added most streets were bare of vehicles so the road maintenance crew could plow streets without many challenges.

During the height of the snowfall on Sunday residents in communities also wisely tried to lower the depth of snow they would have to clear by blowing or shoveling snow in the midst of Fern’s worst conditions as snow fell 1 to 2 inches per hour.

The rumbling and unmistakable sound of snow plow drivers was heard on streets and roads before daybreak and continued Monday.

The sound of small motors from snow blowers tossing snow from sidewalks and driveways was everywhere in all communities by late morning and afternoon.

Fern came first with bitter cold wind chill arriving by Friday night and later with snow early Sunday and by Monday communities were in recovery mode.

In Hughesville, plow trucks could be heard with the driver riding up and down residential streets making multiple passes.

The alleys are always of secondary importance, however, in every community meeting, including the city council, its members consistently say they hear from their constituents ask, ‘Can these alleys be cleared after the storms?’

The storm led to Williamsport City Hall being closed on Monday. School districts and many businesses followed suit or employees who could work remotely.

State routes also were partially covered, but being treated by the state Department of Transportation crews.

Lycoming County offices opened at noon on Monday, according to commissioners and Sheriff Eric Spiegel. The landfill and transfer station kept that schedule.

As far as power outages, the PPL Outage Map indicated the city and vicinity were spared.

There were 92 without power Monday around 8 a.m., but those were places south of Interstate 80.

The storm set a record for the date of Jan. 25, with total snowfall reaching 10.2 inches in Williamsport, according to National Weather Service Meteorologist John Bowen.

The previous record was set in 1958 when the city received 9.2 inches.

A record was set at Harrisburg International Airport, where the snow amounted to 12.5 inches, surpassing the previous record of 5.4 inches set back in 1988.

Across the bridge in DuBoistown, snowfall was measured at 9.6 inches, with Hughesville’s amount reaching 8 inches by 1 p.m. Sunday, according to data from the National Weather Service.

Though the recent storm caused many disruptions, it pales in comparison to some of the region’s more memorable snowstorms.

The greatest January snowfall for the Williamsport area came between Jan. 12 and 13, 1964, when a storm dumped 24.1 inches, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Fresh in many people’s minds will be the blizzard of 1996, which dropped 21.4 inches of snow across the region, contributing to massive flooding when a strong cold front moved through less than two weeks later, something Bowen said is not likely to happen in the immediate future, though it is on their radar down the line.

“Depending on how fast that snow melts, that could lead to possible flooding situations. So, that’s something we keep an eye on as we begin to thaw out for the springtime, but that’s still quite a ways away. So we’ve got some time before we have to start really thinking about that,” he said.

Other years that saw snowfall totals comparable to this weekend’s storms include 1986 and 1987, when 10.3 and 10.1 inches of snow blanketed the area.

Though this storm’s totals were mild by comparison to some others, Bowen stressed the need for those digging out to take precautions.

“Our biggest advice is to just take it slow, do little sections at a time, and try not to over exert yourself, because that can lead to injury and add to the hazardous situation of shoveling snow outside when it’s so cold out,” he advised.

And don’t spend a ton of time outside, especially right now, where we’re experiencing frigid cold on top of the snowfall,” Bowen said, noting that temperatures over the next several days will be down into the single digits.

“Hypothermia can onset very quickly, within 30 minutes, generally, when the temperature is at or near 0,” he said.

Bowen stressed the need for dressing in layers and spending as little time as possible outdoors.

“We were lucky in the fact that not a lot of people in our area lost power due to the event being all snow. We didn’t have a ton of ice mixing in,” he added.

Though temperatures will continue to be bitterly cold, with highs struggling to reach the 20’s, the next week should remain mostly dry.

“Possibly by Friday morning, the temperature could reach as low as negative six in terms of actual temperature. Adding the wind gusts on top of that, you get wind chills close to between negative 10 and negative 20.

“The only thing that really can be expected is scattered snow showers with little to not too much accumulation on Saturday and into Sunday,” Bowen said.