SCRANTON -- Despite spending the day shoveling on Wednesday, many people in our area woke up to a sheet of ice covering their sidewalks and driveways.
You couldn't pick up your feet on most sidewalks in south Scranton.
"It was like an ice skating rink over here, you know?"
Freddie Sallom made repeated trips to his sidewalk on Stafford Avenue to apply rock salt. Wednesday's storm of snow then rain made it difficult for Sallom and his neighbors to stay ahead of the wintry mess.
"Yesterday with all the rain and stuff, you can't use your snowblower because the wet snow, it shoots out coffee cans, you know? instead of the regular snowflakes," Sallom said.
The wet slush froze to sidewalks and streets overnight and temperatures stayed below freezing throughout the day.
"I figured I might as well come out and get it done before the mailman gets here so he doesn't fall," Chuck Smith said.
Smith had an unusual method. The retired roofer used a shovel designed to remove shingles to chip away at the ice all the way down his block of Hemlock Street.
"Actually, it's easier than putting the rock salt and waiting for it to melt and doing it again anyway, so, right? It's easier just to chop it and get it over with," he explained.
Frank Remish over on Alder Street used a tool for spreading cement to try to break through to the cement.
"I actually walked up to Gerrity's this morning and I had to walk in the middle of the street because everybody's sidewalks are just horrendous, you know? I took a flop yesterday twice," he said.
Making this an unpleasant but necessary winter task.
"I always say one of these times, I'm getting out of here for the winter! And I don't think that's ever going to happen."
A forecasted warm up this weekend could bring the thaw we need.