A late-season snowstorm like Toby that hit last week is good for ski mountains and plow drivers, but not so much for contractors awaiting the spring thaw.

A snowstorm can reduce U.S. economic activity by more than $1 billion, according to analysts.

When a storm hits in early spring, that impact extends to businesses which depend on good weather, like construction companies and contractors.

Pennsylvania-based firm Planalytics said the two storms that hit earlier this month combined to reduce economic activity by $1.5 billion.

“There are always winners and losers with these events. But for the most part, these late season storms are a net negative,” Planalytics Executive Vice President Evan Gold said.

A very small fraction of that impact may have been felt locally. Contractors say the month of March has been abnormal in terms of the amount of snow, when they would normally be starting their season.

“This winter doesn’t want to die. The groundhog wasn’t kidding,” Joe Mazzella of Mazzella Enterprises said.

The late-season storms temporarily delayed several projects worth more than $100,000 for the Jim Thorpe-based company. Its home renovation business involves working inside and outside, but roof work and trenches had to be put on hold until weather improved.

It was a drastic change from the days before the storm, when it looked like there would be an opportunity for contractors, with weather getting up into the 60s. It hurts employees as well as contractors, because they are hoping to increase their hours after the slow winter.

“Unfortunately every time it starts to melt, it just snows again,” Mazzella said.

For paving contractors, work during the first days of spring is not as common. Generally contractors like Motola’s Paving in Lehighton wait until temperatures are consistently in the 50s and 60s to begin paving.

“We’ll wait until everything’s right, then we’ll go to work,” Motola’s Dante Angelus said.

However the early spring is a good time to excavate in preparation for paving, something that hasn’t been possible because of the unexpectedly snowy weather. Wet conditions and melting snow prevent that work from taking place.

The impact has been somewhat negative, Angelus said, but not drastic.

“The period to dry out is extended. It doesn’t make ground conditions any better and that is key for us,” Angelus said.

Overall, Motola’s may have lost a week or two of work at most, which they anticipated anyway.

But many contractors will still have to ramp up their efforts to meet deadlines that may have been postponed by the storm.

With the weather appearing to be breaking, Mazzella will be working overtime to get back on schedule.

“We’re all taking a little bit of a hit. Not just us, the contractor, but the employees,” Mazzella said. “But hopefully we’re going to be making it up this summer.”