I live upon the mountains and when it snows, it snows. I lost my satellite connection one day and I wanted to call the company because it was very important for me not to lose my connection. Before calling I went to check my dish and it was covered with snow and thats why I lost me reception, I brushed off the snow and cleared around it and it worked just fine. There should be some kind of system where you could heat up the dish to melt the snow or ice that accumilates on the dish. Maybe some type of wiring that gives the dish some heat source to melt ice or snow. I had my dishes on the roof and the snow was about four feet deep.
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Go to the local hardware store and buy some of the wire that's used to keep pipes from freezing. Attach it to the back of the dish. Next time it snows plug it in. No problem.
Or you could do what I do. . .attach a broom to a long pole and clean it from the ground.
It might be a good idea to put a protective dome or cone over the dish. When I say over, I mean completely encasing it. It would be made of a plastic that is, of course, transparent to the frequency of the signal. This won't stop snow from burying it, but it would be easier to clear off without moving the dish. It would also prevent the dish from being moved or damaged by high winds, hail, animals, etc.
Even better, if a clear box were to encase the satellite dish then it would effectively act as a miniature greenhouse, which means that if the sun shines then the box will get hot and any snow that fell on it would melt. But would this would only work at night if you also had a heat retaining medium that absorbed heat during the day and released it slowly during the night such as a slab of concrete inside the clear box. And I think only infra red light is reflected by glass and acrylic, so therefor visible/radio waves should still be able to go through the box. You also could make money with this idea by making a concept model then a production model, and test market it by selling it on ebay then take it to a manufacturer.
I searched satellite dish heaters and found them easily. Though I think a better solution is a cover that will shed water or a fake-rock that will both shed and look less conspicuous. These two solutions won't use any power. Their shape is how they shed the snow.
http://www.montanasatellite.com/satellite_dish_heaters.htm
http://www.satcover.com/
Artz, there you go pushing clear plastic again...are you in the business? Sorry, I'm just kidding you. The material for the cover needs to be RF transparent, but not visible-light transparent. Just about anything that doesn't have metal or a conductor (water) in it could work.