Charles Santry, president of SnowStation, was a hit with the kids in his Brookline, Mass., neighborhood last winter. Co-inventor of a portable snowmaker, Santry tested his prototype at home. "He had six feet of snow piled up in his yard," says company spokesman Doug Harvey. "The neighborhood children loved him." Santry worked with snowmaking pioneer Herman Dupré to design a reliable snow-generator for home use. They named the 300-pound contraption the Backyard Blizzard. Its requirements are simple: a garden hose, two standard electric outlets and a temperature of 25 degrees or less. It can cover 1,000 square feet with an inch of snow in three hours. With a $2,995 price tag, the handy snowmaker is probably destined for exclusive backyards or small-scale commercial use. Just released this season, Backyard Blizzards so far have been sold to a Connecticut ski shop, a snowmobile dealership, a rental company and a nordic ski club. "A bride from Long Island called and was determined to have snow for her February wedding," Harvey says. "But after talking a little about it, she decided she'd better check with her fiancé first." For information, log onto www.backyardblizzard.com.