SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) - The most recent winter weather system was celebrated by many farmers as the incoming snow brought some much-needed moisture. There’s another profession that was excited to see flurries, too.

It’s been a relatively quiet winter with warmer-than-usual temperatures and fewer snowflakes. To many, the snow isn’t something to get excited about, but snow removal companies have been waiting for a weekend like this. In fact, D & K Lawn Care and Arctic Winter Management Owner Dan Pyle looks forward to snow events despite the amount of stress it may cause.

“It’s high energy,” Pyle described. “I get to work with a lot of great people, great employees, friends. You have a short window and you’ve got to get there and you’ve got to perform and you’ve got to do the best you can.”

Pyle has been in the lawn care business for 21 years, but his company has been pushing snow for 15 winter seasons. This winter season is unique with one of the latest times to get the first significant snow accumulation of the year. Despite pretreating their customers' lots Friday night, the snow totals caught them off guard.

“We had our salt trucks out and dispatched already thinking we were going to burn this one inch [of snow] off,” Pyle recalled. “Quickly had to bring them back, make some phone calls. We discussed yesterday, ‘Hey, keep your phone on tonight just in case. You never know.’ ”

With multiple loaders and multiple shovel crews deployed across the city, a total of more than 15 workers rushed to get everything done as the snow fell. Workers came in at 4 am, but within the first hour and a half their gameplan switched.

With few snow events, there was plenty of time to make sure equipment was ready to go when needed. Looking ahead to after their work is done, Pyle said they’re taking notes on how they can improve next time.

“A couple of first snow jitters,” Pyle said. “We’ve got some work to do after this. We have found some things that are going to need fixing, so this is an awesome way to start the first snow. It’s a couple of inches. It’s a Saturday. Yes, we have a lot of retail traffic, but we also have the availability of a lot of great employees. We try to strategize. All this takes experience.”

They take their work as it comes. There have been plenty of slow years for snow removal, but contracts from corporate business partners help to guarantee they can get by.

“It helps keep the lights on,” Pyle said. “Typically we have snows to fill in the cracks even on a lighter year. We’ve never really gone this long without anything besides some salting events. It is nice to have some of those larger accounts that like to just have a budget in mind whether it snows or not.”

The snow removal process will continue through the weekend and companies are banking on temperatures in the 30s, less wind and plenty of sunlight to help melt surfaces during the day.

Pyle is grateful for his employees who came in and worked on short notice.