SPARTA, N.J. (PIX11) -- The coming winter storm will affect everyone in the tri-state area, but some residents of the region -- more than a million people, in fact -- live in areas where the heaviest snow is forecast, and other wintry conditions, including high winds and low temperatures, could make things tough.
It's why, on Friday afternoon, the National Weather Service upgraded a winter storm watch for the northwest section of New Jersey to a more serious winter storm warning status.
The way that people in the area showed that they understand the heightened severity was through their activity at a place that's seen extremely busy since Thursday: their local hardware store.
"Snow shovels, snow melt," said John Skorski, the co-owner of The Hardware Store of Sparta, listing the items that are flying off shelves. "It's really great," he continued. "We need it here."
His wife and co-owner, Jen Skorski, mentioned something that a variety of people at their store had been talking about: how snowstorms of this intensity are becoming exceptional.
"It's the first one of the season," she said, "and we know we haven't had anything in a while, so I feel that people are kind of pre-planning."
The fact that northwest Jersey hasn't had a lot of snow in some time is a theme around there.
"I want say it was three years ago since here's been a significant accumulation," said Victoria Germano, after two large bags of salt were loaded into her SUV. "So it's been a while."
Juan Morel knows that all too well. He's the owner of Wilmore Landscaping, which specializes in plowing driveways and other home snow removal whenever storms come.
He said that he views the storm forecasted for this weekend with two words.
"It's excellent," he said. "It's a lot of good money. I have two more helpers [hired, and] make a lot more customers."
His snow clearance at homes is on a smaller scale than what trucks at the Sparta Public Works Department were preparing for on Friday afternoon.
A front end loader at the department's main salt barn facility loaded truck after truck with road salt, some 10 tons per vehicle.
On Saturday, the heavy trucks, each of which was equipped with a snowplow, are scheduled to have long work shifts, clearing snow that could fall at a rate of an inch per hour at times.
"The pavement's cold," said Sparta Public Works Assistant Supervisor Ryan Curcio, "so everything is gonna stick pretty good now."
The work shifts, he said, will be around the clock. "Definitely tomorrow night, into Sunday, possibly into Sunday afternoon," he said.
After the snowy, long night for which the public works trucks will plow about 240 miles of roads, there's more potentially rough weather in the forecast, as the hardware store owners pointed out.
"After the snow, now we're gonna have flooding happening around here," said Jen Skorski. "So we stock up on our sump pumps and sump pump hoses."
The forecast for Tuesday calls for a wintry mix that could include rain. It, combined with this weekend's precipitation, may raise levels in North Jersey's already swollen rivers.
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