Lower Makefield Twp. Prepared To Tackle Storm

LOWER MAKEFIELD TOWNSHIP, PA —If it snows, the township's public works department is ready to go.

Most municipalities haven't had to deal with snow for some time over the past year or so, but with this weekend's forecast, towns like Lower Makefield Township are springing to action.

Derek Fuller, director of the public works department, said the township is responsible for the winter maintenance on about 140 miles of roadway.

He said the department maintains a fleet of eight large dump trucks, eight smaller dump trucks, and a few pickup trucks to tackle plowing and salting needs.

On larger scale, for snow, the township has four subcontractors currently under an ‘on-call’ contract in which they can provide up to an additional 20 plow vehicles of various sizes, Fuller said.

He said the department is currently fully stocked with road salt with about 1,200 tons on hand.

Fuller asks residents to keep non-essential travel to a minimum, maintain a safe distance from plow trucks, park vehicles in their driveways, and stay off roads to allow room for the plows to remove the snow safely and effectively.

He said that residents should not shovel or place snow into the roadway.

Fuller also asks residents to be patient with the Public Works Crews as they work long hours to ensure every township roadway is plowed after the snowfall.

According to the National Weather Service in Mount Holly, a coastal system will bring widespread precipitation to the Lower Bucks County and Philadelphia region.

Snow and some mixed precipitation will occur northwest of Interstate 95 on Saturday evening, the weather service said.

Wintry weather is likely for the area as the system moves into the region on Saturday into Sunday.

Precipitation is expected to begin Saturday afternoon or early evening, and then taper off overnight. Some lingering light rain or snow is possible Sunday morning.

About 1-4 inches of snow, mixing with or changing over to rain or sleet at times is projected for northwest of the Interstate 95 corridor through the Interstate 78 corridor.

Mainly rain is expected near and southeast of Interstate 95 but may begin or end as wet snow near Interstate 95 with little to no accumulation.

Rainfall is forecast to be 0.5 -1 inches of rain across the region with the heaviest amounts possible closer to the coast. Localized flooding of low-lying and poor drainage areas remains possible, the weather service said.