Stores on Peach Street stayed open to allow customers to get the best deal for their dollar. Old Navy, being one of these stores, had low sales due to the snowstorm preventing large numbers of customers in comparison to years past.

By Saturday, many stores and businesses were encouraged to shut down operations and a city–wide state of emergency was sent out by Erie Mayor Joe Schember and was planned for the remainder of the weekend.

Sunday non–essential workers were instructed to stay home, and only emergency travel was recommended.

As PennDOT prepared to clear the snow a bigger issue arose. What to do with all the blocked–in vehicles? Cars started to be towed from their spots and owners received heft fines up to $175.

Another challenge of the snow removal process has been the rising temperatures which has caused the snow to become wet and heavy.

When Dan Pertl, a local Erie native, left for work in the morning snow had just begun to fall. By the time he left work in the late afternoon, a winter wonderland or in this case a nightmare had forced Pertl to leave his car at work.

Many cars had been left stranded on the sides of roads. Those with vehicles made for the winter weather pulled off to help in any way they could. Providing ice, shovels, or floor mats to try to push and shove cars out of the street.

For students who had remained in the Erie and for those who had gone home for the holiday the break was ending, which begged the question, will classes resume on Monday?

The answer, no. Gannon University sent out multiple updates to students through email and the Everbridge app. By Friday Gannon announced that it would remain closed until Tuesday and classes were expected to resume on Wednesday December 4.

On December 2, Gannon sent out a message that the campus would remain closed on Wednesday and would be expected to resume classes on Thursday December 5.

Gannon Police and Safety also sent out updates about parking lots to individuals who have parking passes on campus stating that the plows were working to clear parking lots as soon as possible but that, if possible, students should avoid bringing vehicles to campus if possible until the lots could be properly attended to.

The OWB has been calling for volunteers to help assist those in need who have had difficulty getting their vehicles out of the snow. Volunteers have been called to multiple homes in the area.

By 11 a.m. on Friday Erie had accumulated between 8 and 12 inches of snow and by Friday night it grew to 16–22 inches. From Saturday to Sunday 2–4 inches were predicted to fall each day.