It's time to address that age old question: wipers up or wipers down. In this week's Weather Wise, the answer that has families and communities divided is, well, complicated...
To put them up or leave them down, that is the question. What do you do before or during snow with your automobile's wiper blades? One thing we all can agree on is if you leave your wipers down, you turn your wipers on to clear off the snow but they're frozen to the windshield, you get out of the car to brush them off and you get a face-full of snow because the wiper motor was already engaged.
That's the worst...
The pros for leaving wipers up are preventing damage to the wiper motor should you turn on the ignition and have accidentally left the wipers on and they're frozen to that windshield. It prevents damaging the rubber frozen to the windshield as you chisel them away. And it makes clearing snow and ice easier.
The pros to leaving wipers down are preventing damage to the springs inside the blade arm. It discourages vandalism from punks or strong wind. And the defroster theoretically should release frozen blades.
The answer or secret lies in the freezing to the windshield and knowing the weather. If you're windshield is warm from driving and the outside is wet, it's likely wipers will freeze if you leave them down as it continues to snow. But if the windshield and interior of the car is as cold as the exterior, then the wipers should not freeze to windshield, as long as you leave enough time for the glass surface to cool before snow begins to fall.
So that debate is finally settled right? Yeah, i didn't think so. Either way, now you're a little more Weather Wise.
