BANGOR (AP) – Snow plow drivers in Maine are feeling the pinch with the season’s warm temperatures and lack of snow.

While the mild winter is good news for people concerned about high heating bills, snow plow drivers aren’t in such a celebratory mood.

A typical winter brings 53.3 inches of snow to the Bangor area, according to the National Weather Service. But as of early March, the tally was just 34.8 inches with nothing more on the horizon.

In fact, there have been only three storms of more than 3 inches this winter, with the deepest being just 3.8 inches, according to the weather service.

Twenty-year plowing veteran David Bowden of Bar Harbor has had only a handful of plowable snow storms.

“In a normal winter, on average I would say I have between 12 and 15,” he said. “I would like to see, hopefully, an average winter … If we have another 10 storms, it would probably be all right.”

Maine has a number of seasonal industries such as clam digging, wreath making and blueberry raking. Snowplowing, though, just might be the least predictable of all.

Harold and Linda Dall of Orono usually make enough with their part-time plow business each winter to take their grandchildren to Florida. The trip may have to be put off this year.

“It hurts,” Linda Dall said about the lack of snow. “It’s our play money. This year we were putting it away because we wanted to buy a little bit of land, but now it might take a little bit longer.”

For some, the losses can add up to thousands of dollars.

Bowden, for instance, charges an average of $20 to $25 per driveway to plow and another $20 to $25 to sand. It take him more than a day to clear the snow from the 40-plus driveways and private roads that he maintains, but the money adds up.

“Depending on the number of customers and plowable storms, a person could take in anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 bucks,” he said.

Part-time plow drover Kyle Johnson of Bar Harbor said that some drivers will take on 50 or 60 driveways to make $25,000 to $30,000.

“If you want to make any money you’re looking at 25, 30 driveways at least,” he said. “Years in the past, people who come into this business buy a new truck and think they’re going to make their payments.”

But it also takes money to run a snow plowing business.

It can cost $2,000 to $3,000 for a “decent plow,” Johnson said, another $2,000 for a sander and $20,000 for the truck. Between high costs, hard work and early rising on snowy mornings, plowing is not an easy line of work.

While the lack of snow has hurt plow drivers, it’s helped towns keep their winter costs down.

In Bar Harbor, the town is saving on diesel fuel and overtime costs, said Town Manager Dana Reed.

Last year, diesel fuel charges ran 25 percent over budget and overtime costs ran $25,000, or 53 percent over budget. Though this winter’s budget picture is sunnier than last year’s, Reed is well aware that Maine’s weather can turn on a dime.

“It ain’t over til it’s over,” he said.