The Schuylkill County Courthouse and all related office are closed Tuesday. They are scheduled to reopen 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.

John Matz, Schuylkill County Emergency Management Coordinator, said increasing winds are expected with the storm, roads are “passable” but motorists should avoid traveling.

The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is thankful motorists are staying home and avoiding travel so workers can plow roads.

“People are heeding the warnings and avoiding travel, which is really key,” Sean Brown, PennDOT press officer for District, which includes Schuylkill, Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Monroe and Northampton, said.

Brown didn’t have a condition on the roads except to say they were snow covered.

“We had a significant amount of snow and it’s coming down at a good rate,” Brown said.

Vehicle restrictions are in place on various state roads including Interstate 81 from Interstate 78 to the New York border where commercial vehicles are prohibited.

“Our goal is to always keep the roads passable,” he said.

Workers staged their vehicles at the routes in preparation for the snow. They are working 12 hour shifts, he said. When the snow lets up considerably, drivers can switch to applying salt or other materials on roads.

“Mostly it’s going to be a plowing operation at this point,” Brown said.

His advice to drivers is simple.

“Stay off the roads,” he said.

The National Weather Service State College provided the following snow totals at 3:10 p.m.: 9 inches fell 2 miles west southwest of Tamaqua; 2 miles south of Hometown 10.3 inches; 4 miles north northeast Shenandoah 13.0 inches.