A snowstorm is about the only thing that makes Detroit quiet. Traffic thins on the big avenues, the streetlights go soft and orange inside the falling flakes, and by midnight the plows are the loudest thing in the neighborhood. Detroit Snow Plowing Services works in that hush — driveways opened, walks and steps shoveled, salt down ahead of the overnight freeze that locks everything in place. There is a good moment near the end of a route when a whole street stands cleared and the snow keeps falling on it anyway, so you turn around and go back. Winter here does not negotiate, so the work is simply repeated until spring.