Currier & Ives were lucky not to live in today’s age of rapid climate change…I’m not sure they would have been as successful printing lithographs of normally sane adults spread-eagled in their driveways like exhausted accidental snow angels. Their quaint scenes of peaceful snowscapes aren’t really what anyone imagines now when they see a wintry forecast on TV.

New Yorkers have already had a taste of the wicked weather that lies ahead this winter: more than a foot of snow fell before Halloween, and our staff’s taking bets on how many more storms our region will see before Santa comes.

Anybody can get through one of those first snows – the 2- to 4-inch Winter Wonderland type where the whole world seems magical for a few hours – but when The Big One hits, you’d better be ready.

Our advice to you: Prepare for the worst. In a recent blog post that our very own Mark Ciccarelli wrote, he said, “The only thing worse than sending everyone out and having nothing happen is – you got it – not sending out your staff and having something, anything, happen!”

Well, imagine not having a staff or team to tackle those issues and being snowed in your home with little more than the shovel from your backyard sandbox and your kitchen-table salt shaker. In the biggest storms, that’s how unprepared you could feel.

Don’t underestimate Mother Nature!

First of all, a few things you should do every year to prepare for that dastardly winter weather:

  • Check all your high-traffic areas for potential slipping risks – whether it’s sidewalks underneath gutters or in any sloped areas that might get melting-snow runoff and re-freeze overnight.
  • Check your roof for any vulnerabilities that could lead to it caving in (yikes!).
  • Trim all large overhead branches that could buckle under heavy snowfall and cause damage.
  • Shut off all water to your outside spigots.
  • Get all your equipment fueled up and maintained!

Side note: If you haven’t already done this, why are you still sitting at your computer? Get a move on! Or, you could stay at your computer and finish reading this…then pick up your phone and give us a call.

Neave Snow and Ice Management offers professional services that make snow and ice removal look like child’s play. We plow snow and clear sidewalks. We offer services to de-ice and can take measures to prevent it from forming in the first place. And for those really big jobs…snow moving. We stack it. We haul it. We take it off roofs and ramps.

We do it all – snow is our thing. (You know, when flowers aren’t quite in season.) Blatant self-promoting side note: Snow Magazine (yes, there is such a thing) named us one of the Top 100 Contractors in the country!

And we’ve got the heavy artillery to prove it: commercial-grade snow blowers, payloaders, skid steers with plows and snowblower attachments, huge trucks, backhoes…and enough walkway crews who are trained to do simply that, clear walkways. Trucks, backhoes, you name it, we got it.

Of course, hiring professionals to do the hard work for you comes at a cost, but the peace of mind – and, of course, safe, full access to your property – is well worth it, if you ask us.

Imagine, if you will, waking up for work one ordinary day and turning on the morning news. The region’s been clobbered with one heck of a storm overnight, blanketing everything with a foot of heavy snow. “Heart attack snow,” they’re calling it.

Let the kids sleep in…it’s a snow day!

But instead of spending hours digging out and de-icing, you can look out the window at a cleared driveway and shoveled sidewalk. You won’t hurt your back, slip and fall, twist your ankle or generally render yourself miserable for lack of preparation or proper shoveling form.

Instead of all that backbreaking work…you can make pancakes and coffee and get back to the really important stuff: Like remembering where you stashed that toboggan last year. Maybe Currier & Ives weren’t so far off after all.