Snow comes into Market Square sideways, funneled by the buildings and the river, and how much of it actually lands on a given driveway is never quite what the forecast said. Empirical works from what is on the ground instead — measuring accumulation, timing the return trips, watching where the wind is loading the drifts. Driveways, walkways and parking areas get plowed and shoveled, then salted where the melt will run and refreeze after dark. When a storm stretches long, the route goes around more than once so depth never gets ahead of the equipment. What people notice is simple: they step outside, and the pavement is there.