The regular phenomenon of heavy snowfalls in the North American cities of the 'snow belt' has had a marked influence on the communities affected; individuals and city authorities have both sought for ways to cope with the influence of snow storms on daily life. Making use of both official records and private and newspaper accounts from as far back as the Colonial period, the author traces the reactions heavy snows have provoked over the centuries, showing how communities have found increasingly sophisticated ways of dealing with the problems. He shows how the research prompted by the staggering costs have led to improved strategies, and details the moves towards the establishment of annual conferences on snow and its removal to pool experience and to find technological, fiscal and administrative responses to this regularly recurring phenomenon. BLAKE McKELVEYis former City Historian of Rochester, New York.