The Valley end of the city tips downhill toward Onondaga Creek, and in a February storm every side street there becomes a puzzle of buried curbs and stuck bumpers. Jack of Snow Mow N Tow, LLC is out in the middle of it at midnight — blade down, beacon turning, widening a driveway one pass at a time. Clearing snow in Syracuse means reading a storm's grain: where the wind will drift it back in, where to stack it so the next four inches still fit. The moment worth waiting for comes near the end, when the last windrow peels off the apron and the concrete shows through clean to the street. Then it's on to the next address, lights swinging out into the falling white.