No business like snow business

One of the suburbs' snowiest Februaries on record has many people longing for crocuses and other signs that the boots can be put away for the season.

Instead of the usual 7.5 inches of snow during the second month of the year, Mother Nature dumped 22.4 inches of it on the region.

Yet some suburban residents welcome the storms.

For snowplow drivers paid to clear driveways and parking lots, white means green.

And for some of the independent plow drivers, it's more like a godsend. Many usually work full-time in the construction industry, which has been hard hit by the economy, leaving them little work. For these carpenters, builders and excavators, snow plowing can simply help them make ends meet.

"It has been a good month. I wish we'd get more snow," said Vito Gesing, owner of Vito's Snowplowing. The Lake Zurich man said his construction job and furniture restoration business dwindled rapidly with the economic downturn.

In his second season of plowing, Gesing welcomes February's heavy snowfall totals.

He admits he likes the higher temperatures but welcomes the cash that plowing brings.

"For business, it could snow every day," said Gesing, who plows close to 50 driveways in Lake Zurich and along the North Shore every time it snows. He usually starts his shift before midnight and finishes up about 9 a.m. Plow companies typically charge between $20 and $40 to clear a drive.

But while the cash is good, it's a tough way to make a living, said Roger Brummel, a contractor who works winters for Arlington Snow Removal in Arlington Heights. In his second plowing season, he holds a love-hate relationship with the snow.

It's not easy staying awake all night clearing parking lots and driveways.

Plow driver Steve Lambe of Wheaton agrees that by March, he's longing to take the plow off his truck and start thinking about his sealcoating business. "It gets to the point when you're starting to say, 'This can quit,'" he said.

Lambe, like other snowplow drivers, says this February has been exceptionally good for business.

Last February the area saw only 4.5 inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service. Wednesday evening's mini-blizzard of lake-effect snow tacked on 3.6 inches at O'Hare International Airport, enough to push February's total to 22.4 inches, the third-heaviest in 125 years of official snow measurements, said Bill Nelson of the National Weather Service. This brings the seasonal total to 52.3 inches, the heaviest on record since 1884-85.

The local plow drivers don't need official records to know this month's snow is near record-breaking.

Gesing predicts his business is doing 20 percent to 30 percent better this winter.

"I've been doing this for 15 years," Lambe said. "This is right up there in ranking as one of the better winters."