Snowy Weather Impacts Businesses

If your business has seemed slow in February, don't despair! You are not alone. Check out this article from Counselor.

A record-breaking winter of snow and ice continues to sporadically disrupt industry companies across the country, creating a range of hassles for businesses as far south as the Florida Panhandle. "We already broke the seasonal record with 55 inches of snow here," says Leah Cochran, project manager at Red Star Merchandise (asi/305668) in Charlottesville, VA. Cochran's company works closely with the Dave Matthews Band and provides merchandise for musictoday.com, a Web store. "It's been a little rough with shipping and getting stuff delivered from carriers," Cochran says. "And now we're getting ready for more snow."

According to the National Weather Service, almost 70% of the nation was snow-covered as of Friday, with 49 states blanketed with at least a coating of flakes. Several Mid-Atlantic cities have already endured three major snowstorms this winter. "We've really been hammered and we're just not used to this much snow," says Brenda Crowley, owner of You Name It (asi/365120) in Middletown, DE. "We had a great January for sales, but February has been different. And it's harder to network because so many events have been postponed. So I'm going to ASI San Diego."

While the East Coast has been frequently targeted by crippling storms this winter, nearly unprecedented snowfall has also walloped parts of the Bible Belt. In Dallas last week, 12.5 inches of snow fell, breaking a one-day record that was set in 1962. The average yearly snowfall in Dallas is two inches. "We had warning so we were able to move forward on production and gear up," says Carol Gauger, vice president of sales and marketing at Senator USA (asi/86390). "In Dallas, there are no plows and no salt. They just spread sand. But I didn't hear of any mishaps and all our people were safe."

While the weather is improving this week in the South, forecasters are predicting a foot of snow for areas of New England today and tomorrow. The same storm just dumped up to 10 inches of snow in parts of the Ohio Valley.