The Harvard community withstood its first touch of Old Man Winter yesterday as a midday storm dumped two inches of wet, slushy snow on the ground.

But acting Landscape Supervisor Wayne Carbone reacted with the nonchalance of one hardened by experience.

"After last year, we're used to it," Carbone said, referring to last winter's record-setting snowfall for Massachusetts.

Carbone said that a clean-up crew worked all day yesterday to keep the Yard and houses safe.

"We're taking care of business," Carbone said. "We're well-equipped for a hard winter, and we plan to work until the weather says we can stop."

House superintendents were also busy coping with the storm, although they said it presented no major difficulties.

"It's just a mess," said Cabot House Superintendent Gene Ketelhohn. "But we have people out shoveling the snow, and there have been no unusual problems yet."

Mather House Superintendent Jim Hoey said the clean-up job was under control at Mather.

"The mood is high. Everyone's excited," Hoey said.

He added that crews were checking the safety situation around Mather every half-hour.

Lowell House Superintendent Jay Coveney said students are coping with the weather.

Some students were more interested in taking advantage of the snowfall than in seeing it removed.

Shalla E.F. Santos '00 and Sean T. Strauss '99 built a mighty snow fort in the Yard.

Santos said she hadn't played in snow for years.

"I'm completely spoiled by Florida weather," she said.

Strauss, a Montana native, said that he welcomed the snow.

"It's one of the few things here that actually reminds me of home," he said.

Ketelhohn speculated that yesterday's storm was a harbinger of a lot more snow to come.

"We've gotten off to a roaring start here," he said.