Snow plowing operations have gone from busy to next level in the wake of Sunday’s storm.

With much of the region blanketed in 14 or more inches of snow and nowhere to put it, snow plowing services have been in full gear.

Over at Klingles Lawn Care & Snow Removal in Lehighton, the phone has been ringing off the hook, according to owner John Klingle.

“We haven’t had this amount of snowfall in five or six years,” Klingle said. “I can’t answer my phone fast enough.”

Before the most recent storm, Klingle, who has owned the business for eight years, said things had been above average.

In a regular snowfall, he said they do 25 rotations with two or three guys.

But, with Sunday’s deluge, if people are patient, Klingle said they do 50 to 75 rotations with six guys.

“This storm, I had to call in extra reinforcements,” he said. “There definitely has been an increased demand.”

That’s in large part to those who didn’t plan ahead, noted Klingle.

“Especially the ones that don’t prepare, don’t call before the season starts,” he said. “The ones we’ve had all season long, they’re happier than pigs in a blanket, we were there two or three times.”

Klingle said with standard residential, they push the snow as far as they can.

“We usually put up markers on the property line so we know where to push it,” he said. “Sometimes we can even push it past that.”

Klingle had some sage advice moving forward,

“If you missed out this time, make sure you’re on the list,” he said.

Klingles Lawn Care & Snow Removal also does landscaping, mulching, tree trimming and hardscaping.

For more information, call 484-264-2847, or visit klingleslawncare.com.

It’s been much the same at Solt’s Services in Lehighton, where there’s been an uptick in the demand to remove snow.

Jeffrey Solt, who’s owned the business for over 20 years, said during a typical storm he’ll plow upward of 20 properties.

As for this particular storm, he stressed there were “quite a few” as people were in a panic to have their snow removed.

“It was a light and fluffy snow, which made it a lot easier to plow,” Solt said. “It’s just that there’s so much of it, you run out of places to go.”

Solt said one issue he encountered is that “Anyone that calls, they always want to be the first person on the list. As a contractor, we get our contracts done usually in October.”

With the light snowfall in the past few years, people got away from setting up with a snow removal contractor. Solt said.

“This year when I had my contracts done, now everyone is calling and they can’t understand why I can’t come out and service them (is) because I have my run that I have to do.”

Solt pointed out that with Sunday’s storm, he had two more guys help out than usual.

“The demand was high but with all the snow we have, everything went a lot slower,” he said. “Your hours are much longer.”

Solt explained what plowing can be like with a storm of Sunday’s magnitude.

“When you go out in a snowstorm and have to plow, especially when it’s snowing, this one here, the snow was much heavier, we were getting 1 or 2 inches an hour, visibility is very low, it gets hard to see when you’re out at 2, 3 or in the morning,” Solt said. “The nice thing is no one is out on the roads, the snow is coming at you, freezing rain, your windshield is freezing up, it’s a lot more difficult.

“At some point, you could actually get like what I call snow-blind. Especially if you’re going down a road that no one drove on, making a first track down the road, it’s hard to figure out where you are.”

Solt said it would be a big help if people could start preplanning.

“It happened in this storm, several people that call up and are not on your client list, they get impatient,” he said. “Preplan for snow plowing, let us look over the lay of the land before the snow is on the ground so we know what we are planning.

“Preplanning for a snow event is pretty important. Then you get the contractor locked into the job, we know where we are going, we can service the customers on a scheduled basis. Usually customers know when we’re going to show up then.”

Solt’s Services also does landscaping and lawn care.

For more information, call 610-823-5302, or visit soltsservices.com.

Star Quality Landscaping & Tree Services in Palmerton also saw a surge in snowplowing in lieu of Sunday’s storm.

Corey Leonard, who come March will have owned the business for eight years, said they serve about 20 customers on a normal day and utilize two to three workers to plow.

But, on Sunday, that number swelled to about 55 customers, with seven workers needed to clear the large amount of snow.

“It’s hard to find spots to push it,” Leonard said. “There was more of a need.”

Leonard stressed the importance in making sure everyone stays safe, and to not hurt themselves while shoveling during storms like these.

“It’s not worth it,” he said. “Call people that are able to do it for you.”

Leonard recommended that people use salt and cinders when it freezes over to prevent slipping.

“All my customers always know they can come to me for anything they need,” he said.