Sarcastic weatherman explains how to brush snow off a car

I pro-actively attack this problem in two ways:

  1. I park my car in the garage.

  2. I live in a place where it doesn’t snow.

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I live in San Antonio and we get snow / sleet maybe once every other year. The last time it snowed I was driving home from work and my thoughts went like this:

“Gee that rain sure does look funny. The heat from the road must be sending it upward to make it look like the snow in the opening scene of the Korean film I Saw the Devil… Wait a minute, that is snow, I am in opening scene of I Saw the Devil

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Speaking of brutalist…

In my part of the U.K., we get very little snow, the last time it fell hard enough to need to clear a car like that was 2013. The first thing I’d do is start the car, and put the heating and rear heated screen* on, then get out and clear the roof and bonnet/hood.
By the time that’s done the windows should be defrosted enough to use the wipers, provided any thick snow has been swept off.
*Ford cars, along with other brands associated with them, like Volvo, Land Rover/Range Rover, have had heated windscreens, and some Nissan, Vauxhall and Volkswagen cars are now getting heated screens, which makes life a lot easier on very frosty mornings. No idea if heated windshields are available in North America/Canada, but they damned well ought to be!

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Me three! It’s usually quick and easy (unless there’s a ton of heavy snow.) Plus I’m kinda short and my ride’s a PT Cruiser, so the push-broom helps me reach all the snow. :smiley:

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Did you remember to check that the tailpipe was clear?

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South of the Mason-Dixon line, we usually don’t get that much snow.

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My other trick is to open the front doors, stand on the edge (my car doesn’t have runners) and hold the roof rack to avoid slipping while getting up and down.

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They are common for rear windows, but way less common for other windows. They have a hard time dealing with the really heavy snow and ice you see in a lot of parts of the US and Canada.

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I for one support this type of public service announcement (sarcastic or not). I recall 10 years ago or so in Austin, TX there was a bad combo of freezing temps and rain that left the roads horrendously ice-covered. I grew up in the northeast so I knew to go slow in low gear and try not to make any sudden changes in speed or direction. However, Texas drivers did not know this. Instead of taking a few minutes to try to explain basic safety procedures the local news anchors just told people not to leave their homes, which, if covid has taught us anything, is not something most people will do. The next morning there were cars abandoned and strewn all over the sides of the roads. To be fair, it was one of the worst ice storms I’d ever experienced and was nearly impossible to drive in. Took me an hour and a half to make the twenty minute drive home from work since all the freeways were closed due to the fact that a lot of them include uphill, curved bridges in their design which does not mix with ice.

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Where was he 4 years ago? I think if we’d had this kind of obvious coverage with Trump’s campaign, we all could have been saved a whole lot of trouble…

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I miss sarcasm, I really do. There is not NEARLY enough of it in the south, and I’m constantly misunderstood.

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It’s actually raining in SCV right now! (Shades of @Papasan )

We endured a powerful thunderstorm here last night, one punctuated by incredible blasts of wind that, for me, were more disturbing than the lightning strikes about a mile away. Still, rain is always welcome here, in my book.

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sakhalin

Soviet far east, 1969

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No, you don’t, at least not in Germany - this is forbidden (StVO §30(1) - the fine is 10€, okay), and rightly so - an engine on idle does not really warm up the engine itself, not to speak of the entire car. Idling your engine while you brush off the snow and de-ice the windows means the engine is running cold that whole period, and in this state it consumes much more gasoline and produces a multiple of pollutants compared to when running warm. It’s bad for your wallet, your environment and your engine. Really, don’t do this, wherever you are, it’s nonsense.

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Uhm… you mean driving in the firestorms… and how to brush ash off your car, without making an ash of yourself!

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So you’re a belt-and-suspenders type, then? :slight_smile:

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Please don’t do this - seriously. Idling the car while clearing off the snow does not do any good - see my post elsewhere in this thread:

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