“If there was a defining moment when snow emerged as anything more than an awkward form of liquid precipitation, it's more easily dated than explained. In 1814 army surgeons began counting snow days, and in 1870 Congress established the US Army Signal Service, within the War Department, to issue storm warnings based on thrrice-daily weather observations telegraphed to a central forecast office, in Washington. As part of their duties, observers noted the dates of the season's first and last snows."
