Following Winter Storm Jonas, and the more than 2 feet of snow it dumped on the region, one can understand why Nobel prize-winning author and playwright Sinclair Lewis famously said, "Winter is not a season, it's an occupation."        

        Municipal road crews were still working Wednesday cleaning up the remnants of the record storm, which dropped anywhere from 21 to 30 inches in the region Friday and Saturday.  According to the National Weather Service, reported snowfall accumulations ranged, in inches, from 21 in Pennsburg to 24 in Quakertown, 25 in Harleysville, 28 in Green Lane and 30 in Seisholtzville.

        Blustering wind and steady snow made travel difficult but no major accidents were reported to Marlborough Township police, Upper Perkiomen police or PA State Police.  One death was attributed to the storm locally – a 69-year-old East Greenville man reportedly suffered a heart attack while shoveling snow at his home.  

        Upper Perkiomen, Boyertown, Quakertown and Souderton school districts were all closed Monday and operated on delays Tuesday and some into Wednesday.  All Montgomery County offices and courts were also closed Monday.    

        Road crews could be seen Tuesday hard at work at various locations in the Upper Perkiomen Valley.  Those crews were leveling off mountains of snow so deep at intersections it left motorists unable to see oncoming traffic.

        The road crews didn't have an easy time of it.  A Red Hill borough snowplow got stuck in the snow at 7th and Main streets in the borough Saturday thanks to some transmission issues and couldn't be put back into service until earlier this week, according to Mayor David Schiffgens.  Schiffgens said that issue delayed plowing throughout the borough.  In East Greenville, the snow was so deep road crews couldn't initially plow curb to curb, which left some Main Street businesses hurting for parking in an already tight location.

        "What do you do with 30-some inches of snow?" laughed Grand Theater and East Greenville Subway owner Ed Buchinski.  "We were closed all day Saturday and we reopened Sunday but our attendance was off significantly because of the storm.  The first snowstorm of the year always hurts our business and if it's the last snow of the season, that's okay with me!"

        East Greenville Manager Jim Fry said the borough was back out Tuesday and Wednesday plowing curb to curb and loading the snow from along Main Street into dump trucks, which was deposited into a lot belonging to borough business Titanium Finishes.

        Milford Township Fire Company also went to work during the storm in their newly converted military M923 five-ton truck, the same type the PA National Guard uses, and was dispatched on all fire and ambulance calls.  The truck, which can be converted from a fire apparatus to a rescue vehicle, was called to transport surgeons to St. Luke's Hospital in Quakertown during the height of the storm.

        "There was no snow for us in that truck," said Jim Reiner, Milford Township Battalion Chief 75, noting its 36-inch bumper line.  "We knew that it was an asset but this really proved there are no limitations to this truck.  We were able to pick up those emergency surgeons and put medics in the back of the truck where they wouldn't have been able to get through."

        And while residents largely dug out on Sunday, the lucky ones using snowblowers, Sunday wasn't all work for area kids, who took to the snow for sledding and making snowmen.  While it was a little too deep for the smallest ones, who were stuck up to their waists, the older kids said they were having a blast.

        "I don't like the cold but if it's going to be cold then why not have it snow!" said Owen Gray, 12, of East Greenville.  "It was the most snow I've ever seen."

        "I felt happy because I got to play in the snow instead of going to school.  It was hard to make a path for sledding and stuff though," said 10-year-old Mandy Pierson of Pennsburg.  We made a snow fort and were out there almost all day."

        Roman Macedo took to the outdoors with his neighborhood friends to take part in a snowball fight or two Saturday, as did members of the Upper Perkiomen Police Department who could be seen, in between calls, on Hunter Drive in Pennsburg and Hamilton Drive in East Greenville among other locations.

        "I was so excited," said Macedo, of Pennsburg.  "I couldn't wait to go outside and have snowball fights and do all the things you normally do in the snow."  

        "It was snowing a lot; it got really big and after a while I couldn't walk anymore," said Anthony Macedo, 6.  "Yes, I liked having off school a lot.  I hope it snows again soon!"