For quite some time there has been much confusion and frustration concerning the city of Omaha’s snow removal plan. It’s time for citizens to know exactly how the whole thing works. Please consider this tutorial your guide to understanding a wrongly vilified policy.

For starters, the night before a potential snowstorm leaders of the Omaha Public Works Dept., affectionately dubbed “the snow-nooshkies” check the weather forecast. Instead of a forecast from the National Weather Service or one of Omaha’s 73 TV meteorologists the Public Works Dept. consults its famed weather-predicting skunk, Stinky.