Last Winter Was Unpredictable. Your Coverage Doesn’t Have to Be.

Ask yourself one question: how did last season actually go?

Before you renew the same snow plan you ran last year, it is worth answering one question honestly. How did last winter go? For a lot of commercial operators, the answer is some version of “busier and stranger than we expected.” The volume was high, the timing was off, and the providers who were not locked in early felt it.

The season backs that up. Across Lessen’s network, last winter was one of the most active and unpredictable in recent memory, a steady run of named storms reaching markets that never used to plan for them. This was not a quiet year that caught a few unlucky operators. It was a heavy, sustained season.

Snow showed up where, and when, it wasn’t supposed to

The clearest signal was where the growth landed. The markets people think of as warm saw some of the sharpest increases.

Snow and ice service volume in the Gulf States rose 171% over the past three years, the highest percentage jump of any region. The Great Lakes added roughly 17,000 more services on average over the same period, the largest increase by volume.

Independent climate data points the same direction. NOAA reports that winter storm frequency has risen across the mid and high latitudes, with storm intensity increasing in the mid-latitudes. Because a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information notes it can fuel heavier snowfall within individual storms. That is exactly the pattern Lessen saw on the ground.

In short, this is the new normal. Storms are arriving earlier, hitting harder, and reaching markets that historically did not budget for them. An operator who plans for an average winter is planning for a season that may not show up.

Why the unpredictability makes early contracts more valuable, not less

Here is the instinct to resist. When the weather feels unpredictable, it is tempting to stay flexible and wait. The opposite is true. Unpredictability is exactly why locking in coverage early matters more. The scarce resource in snow and ice is labor, and dedicated crews and equipment commit in the pre-season window. When a season turns heavy and early, the operators who waited compete for whatever capacity is unclaimed, at premium rates and slower response.

Signing a contract in the pre-season window is really reserving labor before the unpredictability hits. It is the one part of a chaotic season an operator can actually control.

At record volume, the network still delivered

The reason early contracts are worth it is what that committed labor produces when the season gets hard. Across more than 27,800 service requests, the network scaled to meet demand, mobilizing nearly 1,300 vendors during winter storm events and delivering most services proactively, before a client reported a problem.

That proactivity is the point. Lessen’s technology combines live AccuWeather forecasting with each site’s service history and trigger depths to sequence dispatch across the portfolio. It is AI-driven, drawing on more than 40 million work orders of execution data, which is why coverage moves before the storm peaks instead of after.

The window is open now

Last winter answered the question of whether the season can be trusted to give you a runway. It cannot. The operators who come through the next one in good shape are the ones reserving dedicated labor now, while crews are still available to commit, with a defined standard for every site and the documentation to back it up.

Last winter was unpredictable. Your coverage does not have to be. Lessen’s comprehensive snow and ice management program combines a dedicated team of experts with the One by Lessen™ platform, which tracks incoming storms, automatically mobilizes vendors, and reports on service execution and financials in real time. With a trusted, vetted provider network and 24/7/365 support, Lessen delivers timely, documented service tailored to every site in your portfolio. Partner with Lessen to lock in your coverage before the next season does.

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