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New Yorkers were out in full force Thursday preparing to fight what's expected to be the first significant snowfall since the nor'easter that hit the city the week after Hurricane Sandy.

So before the crack of dawn, people in Coney Island could be seen streaming into the local Home Depot.

"Gonna go see if I can find a snowplow. Think they're all sold out, they usually have 'em outside," said one shopper.

"I figured tomorrow the rush is going to be ridiculous so I'm getting ice-melt now, said another shopper.

"I do have to get one of those ergonomic shovels because my back isn't as good as it used to be," noted a third shopper.

Sanitation crews are also working to ready snowplows and salt spreaders. Mayor Bloomberg stopped by a plow depot in Manhattan earlier in the day to check out their preparations.

"The better news is that if it's going to happen, having it happen on a Friday is probably as good timing as we could have because the sanitation department then has the advantage of being able to clean the streets when there's normally less traffic," Bloomberg said.

"I expect tomorrow night when it starts to come down we'll be out plowing," said DOS Commissioner John Doherty. "There is an off chance we could be plowing tomorrow morning if the temperature doesn't rise early enough but we're prepared for that. We've set up the operation so that if tomorrow there is a delay in turning to rain, we will be ready with our plows and our salt spreaders."

Con edison crews are also getting ready for possible power outages brought on by the storm.

"All those wet power lines and moisture will probably build up. It could freeze making the lines heavy and then you have snow on top of that, so we're certainly anticipating a fair number of outages," said Con Ed Representative Michael Clendenin.

As for the question most seem to ask when New Yorkers flood hardware stores before a storm -- "What happened to last year's shovel?" -- one shopper gave NY1 a practical answer:

"I got about three of them back In the shed so I figure one I'll keep on the front porch rather than going in the back and digging out the other two or three," said Brooklyn resident John Dee.