There are no hills out here to slow the wind. It comes across the open ground along the Higgins Road corridor, moves snow sideways, refills a lane an hour after it was opened, and turns yesterday's meltwater into black ice by four in the morning. Tri Star Snow & Ice Control Inc plans the night around exactly that: plowing lots and drives, stacking piles where the wind will not hand them straight back, then salting and de-icing lanes and walkways before the parking spaces begin to fill. Ice is the quieter half of this job and often the more important one, since a treated entrance nobody slips on is a whole day that goes right for somebody who will never think about it. Storms cross this part of Illinois fast, and the trucks go out ahead of them.