But something seemed out of whack.
"Plow tracker said my street was plowed an hour ago - Pull the other leg," the 31-year-old video producer tweeted at the mayor's office, including a photo of her snowed-in street.
Across the country, local leaders have made plow-tracking data public in free mobile apps, turning citizens into snow watchdogs and giving them a place to look for answers instead of clogging phone lines at city call centers to fume. Chicago and New York introduced apps in early 2012, and Seattle has gotten into the game, as have some places in Maryland and Virginia.
Boston briefly experimented, too, though their site was so popular it crashed during a February 2013 storm, hampering the response effort. The city hasn't made another attempt.
The apps tap into GPS data already collected by the city to direct plows, so no extra money is spent in the creation. It's a politically deft move by cities where bungled storm responses have cost officials their jobs, and a way to show skeptics that plow drivers are working hard -- and not just clearing the streets of the wealthy and well-connected.
But in New York and Chicago, in particular, the tech savvy have scrutinized the sites. Armed with the ultimate proof -- the cities' own data -- they've needled public officials about snow-cleanup shortfalls on social media.
"It puts a lot of pressure on everybody involved to be more responsible and to be more accountable," said Priscilla Dixon, a Chicago lawyer who has used the app and is a believer in engaging the city via social media.
