It looked like State College was in for an early spring, but yesterday morning residents awoke to seven inches of snow.

"Just because it got mild for one week doesn't mean winter is over," said Ken Reeves, senior meteorologist at Accu-Weather, 619 W. College Ave. Reeves added that the rest of the week doesn't look much better for the area.

"In general, we're looking at a colder pattern," he said, adding that there is a chance of snow again tomorrow.

Once again, ice pelted umbrellas, car wheels spun and sounds were muffled by the powder that covered the ground.

"I'm sick of this weather," said Amy Coolbaugh (senior-psychology). "I just want spring to come. It's too depressing."

Especially hard hit by the snowfall were local business employees who found their breaks from shoveling sidewalks short-lived.

Hal McCullough, owner of Cafe 210 West, 210 W. College Ave., said keeping the sidewalks clear was a lot of work.

"The sidewalk today will probably be cleared five or six times," he said, adding that because the sidewalk is in a high traffic area, it needs to be clean.

Autumn Kemler, manager of The Gap, 206 W. College Ave., said it was difficult to remove the snow because store employees had to do it themselves.

"We don't have a lot of people to spare today," she said. Kemler said she had to bring a shovel from home to use at the store because the store's shovel had been stolen.

Peter Marshall, State College Borough manager, said shoveling sidewalks is more than a common courtesy.

"Twelve hours after snowfall stops, you've got to clean your sidewalks," he said. Not doing so can result in citations of up to $25, he added.

The State College Borough Council has plans to increase the fines in an effort to improve snow removal, but nothing has been finalized yet, Marshall said.

Despite the hassle of shoveling sidewalks and battling the cold, Jim Skinnell (senior-computer science) had positive feelings about the snow.

"I love it," he said. "It's nice to see new white snow instead of all that black stuff."

Bill Moerschbacher, assistant supervisor at University Police Services, said yesterday's snow did not cause major traffic difficulties.

"It always slows everything down, but we haven't had any accidents as a result of this storm," he said.