Yeah, there are many reasons why you need lots of snow up there. A few years ago my folks in Northern Maine had very little snow until mid-January. The frost went down 9 feet and everyone's pipes froze solid, some not having water for weeks, some having very damaged pipes...both those coming in and those going out.....Having lived with both, I'd rather have no water coming in than none going out....flushing, showers, etc can't even happen with melted snow or buckets. Eeek.