Snow here rarely announces itself politely; it comes in ribbons off Lake Ontario, crosses the drumlins north of the county and reaches Syracuse in the dark hours. Houston Cleanup and Removal works those hours — three in the morning, wipers ticking, one lot finished and the next one waiting. Plowing and shoveling in Central New York is less a chore than a cadence: three inches, clear it, three more, go again. By the time the first commuters ease down the on-ramp, the surface is dark and open and nobody thinks twice about the ground under their tires. That kind of invisibility has to be earned storm by storm, all winter long.