Lack of snow hurting Charlottesville business

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WVIR) - Winter isn’t over yet, however, the lack of snow in the Charlottesville area is mixing things up for businesses selling supplies.

“Winter has been a little bit slower for us this year, Martin Hardware Assistant Manger Chris Davis said Monday, January 30. “Stuff like ice melt and sleds and shovels, they’re not selling as quickly as they normally have. But, every once in a while when they call for a little bit, you know, we see a few people come in. But without anything too heavy, a lot of it’s just been hanging around the shop.”

Hanging around does not help cash registers ring.

“I think we’ve had at least maybe one or two good snows this time last year, and I don’t think we’ve really had any quite yet. So, we’re still kind of waiting on the big one to just start selling some of this,” Davis said.

Lou Hatter with the Virginia Department of Transportation says the lack of snow is saving tax dollars.

“From a budget perspective, we are underspend for snow. The district budget this year for snow is about $13-and-a-half million. So far this year, we’ve spent about $3 million,” Hatter said.

He says areas in higher elevations have been the most affected by snow so far.

“We have responded to seven events, not all of which were general snow or winter weather events across the district. Several of them involved precipitation at higher elevations up in the mountains, but not necessarily in other parts of the district. So it’s been an unusual year, definitely less than we typically have in a winter,” Hatter said.

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