If you own a property, you have a legal responsibility to keep it reasonably safe for anyone who enters legally. That includes customers, guests, delivery drivers, even trespassers in some states. When winter hits, that duty extends to snow and ice. If you do nothing and someone falls, you could be paying medical bills, lost wages, and pain-and-suffering damages. But you are not expected to be a superhero. The law gives you a buffer: you must clear snow and ice within a “reasonable time” after a storm ends. What does that actually mean? It depends on several factors.

First, the clock does not start while the storm is still dumping snow. You cannot reasonably clear a sidewalk that keeps getting buried. The “reasonable time” window opens when the precipitation stops or slows to a point where clearing actually makes a difference. For a light dusting that stops at noon, a few hours may be reasonable. For a blizzard that rages all night and ends at 6 a.m., you might have until mid-morning or early afternoon to get it done. But you cannot wait until the next day if the sun is out and the snow is melting into slush. The more foot traffic you expect—like at a store, apartment entrance, or office building—the shorter your window.

Courts look at several things to decide if you moved fast enough. The severity of the storm matters. A three-inch snowfall is not the same as a foot of heavy wet snow. The time of day also matters. If the snow stops at 2 a.m., you have more leeway than if it stops at 7 a.m. right before the morning rush. Your resources matter too. If you are a small store owner with one shovel and a bad back, you get more time than a large shopping center that employs a plow crew. But having no resources at all is not a defense. If you cannot clear the snow yourself, you need to hire someone. Ignoring the hazard is negligence.

There is another important layer: “notice.“ You are only liable if you knew or should have known about the dangerous condition. That is called actual or constructive notice. Actual notice means someone told you about the ice, or you saw it. Constructive notice means the ice was there long enough that you should have discovered it through a reasonable inspection. If a patch of black ice forms at 3 a.m. and someone slips at 6 a.m., you might not be liable because you had no chance to find it. But if that same ice stays there for two sunny days and you never bother to check, you have constructive notice.

Many states still follow the “natural accumulation” rule. Under that rule, you have no duty to clear snow and ice that falls naturally from the sky. The idea is that winter is a natural hazard everyone knows about, and property owners should not be forced to battle nature. However, this rule is fading. Many states now treat snow and ice like any other hazard: you must address it if you invite the public onto your property. Even in “natural accumulation” states, you cannot ignore artificial accumulations. For example, if your roof drains melt snow onto a walkway and it refreezes into a sheet of ice, that is an artificial condition you created. You must fix it.

What constitutes a reasonable effort? You do not have to make the surface bone-dry. You only need to reduce the risk to a reasonable level. Shoveling, salting, sanding, or applying chemical melters all count. But you have to keep at it. If you salt once and then rain washes it away, you need to reapply. If you shovel a path but leave a thin layer of packed snow that turns to ice, that might still be dangerous. The courts will ask whether a reasonable person in your shoes would have done more.

Documentation is your best friend. If you are a property owner, keep a log of when storms hit and when you cleared. Take photos. Save receipts for salt and snow removal services. If a lawsuit happens, that evidence shows you acted reasonably. Without it, a jury might assume you did nothing.

In short, the law does not require perfection. It requires effort that matches the situation. You need to know your local ordinances because some cities require snow removal within a specific number of hours, like four or six. Violating that ordinance is often considered negligence per se, meaning you are automatically at fault if someone gets hurt. So check your local rules. Ignorance will not save you from a slip-and-fall claim.