Snow does most of its real work in Patterson between midnight and five, when nothing moves but wind coming down over the ridge. NY Paramount Services keeps exactly those hours, plowing lots and drives, stacking piles where they will not block anyone's view, salting the lanes people will walk before sunrise. A long storm has its own rhythm — a pass, a wait, another pass — and it goes on as long as the sky does. The payoff comes at first light, when the pavement is dark and dry and the day opens as though nothing happened overnight. That, in the end, is the entire point of being out there.