Residents who bought plows, shovels and rock salt have yet to realize any returns on their investments this winter.

That isn’t expected to change in the short-term, though the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced the drought watch has been lifted for Carbon, Luzerne, Northampton and Schuylkill counties.

Palmerton Municipal Water Authority in Carbon County remains on voluntary restrictions, but groundwater indicators for that county has returned to normal and precipitation has been sufficient to support groundwater recharge.

Snow, however, is at lower than normal levels.

A system is expected later Sunday afternoon and Sunday night, according to Joe Lundberg, a senior meteorologist with AccuWeather.

“It starts off as snow or a snow/rain mix, and goes over to plain rain, which will keep accumulations down,” Lundberg said.

Lundberg said Lehighton could see a coating to an inch of snow, whereas higher elevations in Carbon County could get between 1-3 inches.

He said another system is expected to come in Wednesday.

That system is expected to arrive either late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning, and leave by Wednesday night, Lundberg said.

“It’s probably going to do the same thing; initially start as snow and (change) over to rain,” Lundberg said.

As for the season to date, Lundberg said Allentown has received a mere 1.4 inches. Last year at this time, he said it received 6.9 inches by now, and the season before 14 inches had dropped.

“We’ve had a lack of cold air,” he said. “We had one blast or Arctic air came in right before Christmas, which lasted three to four days, and quickly evaporated.

“We’ve not seen anything to replace it; we’ve just not had enough cold air, and the storm track has been too far north and west. It’s basically been an inland storm track.”

However, Lundberg said it’s way too soon to write off the winter season just yet.

He added that the back end of late February into early March could produce shots of colder air, and that it’s not out of the question to get some snowstorms.

Effect on plants

No snow means plants aren’t protected, according to Jeannie Carl, a naturalist at the Carbon County Environmental Education Center.

Carl said snowfall helps absorb sound and reflect light, and helps absorb sound and with sound pollution.

She said small animals like voles, shrews and mice are protected from predators as they can tunnel under the snow to find food, but some owls can hear the rustling under the snow from 50 feet away.

Additionally, Carl said snowfall replenishes local rivers, lakes, and water tables, and helps protect low growing plants (and the roots of larger shrubs and trees) from extreme temperatures and from drying out in the cold dry air.

As snow melts and refreezes, it is also softens the seed coats of various plants; by freezing and thawing, the seed coats begin to crack, and this allows the cotyledons (the first leaves to emerge from the seed) to break through. If that wouldn’t happen, then the seeds wouldn’t germinate in the spring.

Also, Carl said snowfall is one of the primary sources of fresh water, and may be responsible for up to 75% of the water supply of the East Coast.

Growers, such as Ryan Wentz, co-owner of Yenser’s Tree Farm on Route 902 in the Mahoning Valley, explained the effect the lack of snowfall has had on the family-run business.

“For us on the Christmas tree side, it’s more of the ground being frozen or not,” Wentz said. “Right now, it’s not.”

Wentz said they’ve spent their time pulling stumps, typically a job for March or April.

“The fact that it’s not frozen really benefits us and helps us work ahead and get those fields ready so that when the trees come, (seedlings, transplants) it really helps us this time of year when we can work in the fields,” he said. “As far as the snow cover with the plants and trees, it affects the water table.”

Without the snow cover this year, Wentz said “it will be interesting to see how it affects everything.”

“As far as January is concerned, we’ve been able to do things outside on the tree farm side which we haven’t been able to do, which helps us,” he said.

Increase in ticks

Ticks are another drawback of warmer weather.

Ticks do provide food for other animals, as reptiles, amphibians and birds.

Carl said opossums are clean animals and groom constantly, so they are also eating a large quantity of ticks as they roam around and undoubtedly pick up a lot of them.

It’s estimated that they eat about 5,000 ticks a year and are immune to whatever diseases those ticks have in the event they are bitten.

For people, Carl said there are ways to avoid being an easy meal.

She said ticks actively seek out their next host, and ticks don’t jump and don’t care whether someone is the cleanest person out in the environment or the grubbiest.

Carl said ticks use a behavior known as “questing” in which they climb onto plants and lean into the scents around them, literally reaching out to latch on to the next meal.

“To be sure I don’t get myself in trouble with parents or teachers for being inappropriate, I tell students and visitors to be sure to check all their nooks and crannies to make sure they aren’t taking a tick home with them,” she said. “They understand what I mean without saying what I mean.”

Carl shared tips on what not to do after being bitten by a tick.

She said not to burn a tick with a match, as the heat makes the tick drool whatever diseases it might be carrying into your bite wound.

Smothering it with Vaseline is not suggested either, Carl said.

“I have heard this my whole life and the same thing happens,” she said. “It’s not fun when the tick cannot breathe, so being stressed they will drool or regurgitate salivate into your wound.”

Carl said not to rub it with alcohol, either.