Snow piles grow; city budgets shrink

WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) -- The groundhog predicted an early spring, but the winter weather in Southern New England doesn't seem to be listening.

Rhode Island and neighboring Massachusetts towns may experience a third consecutive winter storm this weekend, which - for city officials - would be an expensive inconvenience.

At the beginning of this year, each city set aside a certain amount of money for all snow-removal activity. Warwick, for example had a snow budget of $430,000. Between the Blizzard of 2013 and other, smaller snowstorms, that municipal budget has rapidly shrunk.

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Weekend storms force snow-removal workers to stay on the job for up to 36 consecutive hours at a time, which means they're being paid more than twice their normal rate. With only $55,000 remaining in his city's snow removal budget, Mayor Avedisian said he's hoping for sunshine.

"Hopefully, [this weekend's weather] won't be too dramatic, so we can stay within our budget."

The forecast currently shows that most New Englanders will most likely only see rain, but others could wake up to see their driveways covered in snow once again.