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A snowplow mounted on a dump truck on a main street in Washington, DC

A snowplow (also spelled snow plow, snowplough or snow plough, see miscellaneous spelling differences) is a vehicle, or a device intended for mounting on a vehicle, for removing snow and sometimes ice from outdoor surfaces, typically those serving transportation purposes. In many cases, pickup trucks are outfitted with plows from brands such as Western, Meyer and Fisher to fulfill this purpose, but those are more suitable to small parking lots than tools for professionals. However, it is common for areas that regularly receive large amounts of snow every year to use maintenance dump trucks and farm tractors, added with modern plows like Arctic Machine, to plow or blow snow. There's also specially-designed winter service vehicles whose primary purpose is to move snow and otherwise improve roadway conditions in cold weather which is highly necessary at airfield. Modern plows may include a great deal of technology to make the job—and staying on the road—easier, such as Global Positioning System receivers, heads-up displays and infrared cameras. Some regions that do not frequently see snow may use graders and other equipment to fulfill this task, but on the other hand graders are best equipment to remove compacted snow and ice off the streets. Snowplows can also be mounted on rail cars to clear railway tracks.

When snowfalls accumulate above a certain height, snowplow operators may be seen clearing primarily designated "snow routes", often for the exclusive use of emergency vehicles such as fire trucks.

Historic wooden wedge-plow drawn by horses

First snowplows were horsedrawn wedge-plows made of wood. In 1923, the brothers Hans and Even Øveraasen constructed the world's first snowplow for use on cars. This proved to be the start of a tradition in snowclearing equipment for roads, railways and airports, as well as the foundation of the company Øveraasen Snow Removal Systems.

• Snow blower
• Rotary snowplow
• Winter service vehicle
• "Mr. Plow", a Simpsons episode about snow removal.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Snowplow

A small sidewalk clearing plow in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

A small wedge plow mounted on a passenger train in Lower Austria

A grader plowing snow

Garbage trucks fitted with snowplows

Backhoe fitted with special snowplowing attachment

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