Prepping for Winter Storm Alan

GREEN BAY - If you're not ready for winter weather, you're about to get a rude awakening.

Those who are prepared spent today getting ready for the forecasted snow.

They bought shovels and got their snow blowers ready ahead of Winter Storm Alan.

"I got the key in, everything is on,” said Joe Walton, owner of Walton's Small Engine.

Walton's revved the engines of many a snow blower through many winter storms.

“Been doing this over 50 years,” he said, with a proud smile.

With Winter Storm Alan approaching, Walton says his east side Green Bay shop has tuned up nearly two dozen snow blowers in the past week

“Right here is the yellow dipstick. Right here you have the oil,” he said, taking out the dipstick.

Walton said it just takes a few easy steps in your own work shop to make sure your snow blower will start up properly.

"Oil is number one, gas is number two. And that's what you do. Oil before gas and you never run out of oil,” said Walton.

Snow blower repairmen say the number one thing that can go wrong with a snow blower is leaving the gasoline in the gas tank for too long. If it's been in there for longer than 30 days, it's no good.

"It can crud up the carburetor,” explained Walton.

Mechanics say with warm weather not that far in our past, most people haven't thought of prepping their snow blowers.

"It's really last minute. People let them sit for a couple years,” said Derek Nicklas at Craig’s Small Engine in Howard.

If you're going the low-tech route for clearing snow, Ace Hardware in Ashwaubenon says it has plenty of shovels left on its shelves.

"We've sold a few shovels already this morning. We're expecting to see a lot more sales when the snow starts to fly,” said Ryan Lindner, the store’s manager.

While snowfall can boost bottom lines of repair shops and hardware stores, those who sell snow removal stuff remain split on whether the impending storm's a good or bad thing.

"I prefer the warm weather as opposed to the cold and rain and snow that's coming. But it is exciting for the first snow of the year,” said Lindner.

"It's not a good storm until it changes everybody's pattern,” said Walton.

Walton says he'll keep on fixing the engines even after the flakes hit.

Small engine repair shops say their biggest rush usually comes after the first snow of the season. Most people don't realize their snow blowers aren't working until after the storm hits.