Which of These Doesn't Belong?
This Winter, It's Snow-Removal Gear, as Businesses Adapt to Warmth

By Ylan Q. Mui
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 4, 2006

The sky was bright blue on a recent morning -- just as it had often been the past five weeks. The sun was beaming down on a neatly landscaped lawn in Great Falls, fresh mulch around the sugar maples and crab apple trees out front. Fabio Cerna peeled off his sweatshirt before starting his lawnmower, and soon the air was filled with the smell of cut grass.

This is February?

Usually at this time of year, Cerna and his co-workers at CLS Lawn & Landscape plow snow and salt driveways. But now, Vice President Brad McLean said, he's got half a trailer-load of ice melt gathering dust at his headquarters and clients calling him to cut back their shrubs.

The Washington area's warm spell has forced some local businesses to switch gears or get left out in the cold. High temperatures helped boost the number of new construction jobs in the country to 46,000 last month, after a gain of just 5,000 in December. But it also means lost money from snow removal, slushy trails at ski resorts and stacks of unsold shovels.

"If it's a snowy month, it's not uncommon for us to sell thousands of shovels," said Craig Smith, manager of Strosniders Hardware Store in Bethesda. "We're well below normal on that right now."

Several business owners said they are hoping that sales of spring products and services will make up for the loss of revenue from winter goods. And they're still counting on winter kicking in later this month, though they're putting out displays of garden supplies, just in case.

"It is somewhat of a guessing game," said John Spalding, co-owner of True Value Hardware on 17th Street in the District for about three decades. "But when you've been doing it as long as I have, I like to think that I've been guessing better than I used to."

Spalding estimated that 15 percent to 20 percent of his merchandise is seasonal: humidifiers, space heaters, weather stripping, windshield scrapers. Some of it he bought in bulk back in August and September to secure lower prices. The rest he orders weekly.

Spalding said he stocked up on winter supplies in December, when the region had more snow than usual. Sales were strong, and Spalding thought he was on the money.

"I figured this is going to be a super cold winter," he said.

But when January emerged sunny and balmy, Spalding was left with a pile of unwanted winter gear. "When the weather changes," he said, "you can get stuck with a lot of inventory."

Smith said he has cut back on displays of ice melt. Usually, it fills the shelves and the prime real estate at the end of the aisles. For really big snowstorms, he'll stack it on pallets right by the front door.

Now, Smith said, housewares and garden tools occupy the best retailing spots. Some customers have asked about grass seed. One even wanted citronella candles -- used to ward off mosquitoes.

"People are not thinking about winter as much because they're not seeing it," he said. "I don't blame them."

Yesterday's high was 62 degrees, 18 degrees above average. Weather.com's "ski comfort index," rated from a low of one to a high of 10, was zero.

Brian Guyer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, attributed the heat wave to southerly and southwesterly winds blowing in warm air from the Gulf of Mexico. Average snowfall for January is 6.2 inches, he said, but this year, the region had just "a trace."

That made last month one of the 14 least snowy Januarys in the 120 years that the National Weather Service has tracked that statistic, Guyer said. It also put Steve Borcherding's snow plowing business at nil.

Borcherding owns SAB Lawn & Landscaping Inc. and has 24 trucks that he can convert into snow plows. He set them up at the beginning of winter but had to take the plows off so that he could haul sod.

"We just shift according to the weather," Borcherding said. "The biggest pain is having to set up all of our snow stuff and downset it again."

In a very cold year with more than a dozen snowfalls, Borcherding said, he can make as much as $750,000 just from snow removal. An average year with four snowfalls brings $250,000 to $500,000.

Borcherding said he doesn't miss the business, because he's doing landscaping jobs instead. Plus, he has had time to clean his equipment and get his shop in order for spring. Plowing snow and salting, on the other hand, can require 40 hours of straight work. Christmas, New Year's, the Super Bowl -- he's had to work them all.

"I used to love snow. Now I hate it," he said. "I didn't used to have a wife and kids when I started. When it snows, I know I'm not going to be home for two, sometimes three days."

McLean said he doesn't believe that winter is over just yet. He isn't recommending fertilizer and he's even worrying about the mulch he carefully placed around the home in Great Falls -- a few inches of snow could turn it into dirt.

After all, Guyer reminds, the region's snowiest days have occurred in February, and flakes have fallen as late as May.

"In the snow business," McLean said, "there are no guarantees."

The latest forecast would be no surprise to him: Temperatures are expected to drop into the 20s next week, according to the National Weather Service.

And on Friday? A 30 percent chance of snow.