Snow or ice coming? Wipers up!

Something I didn't have to contend with in my home country was what to do with cars when it snowed...because it never did where I lived! Of course, switching to snow tires is something we do out here in Niigata every winter, but another tip that doesn't get spoken about as much IMO is the windscreen wipers up side of things.

We had a neighbor who used to always put our wipers up along with their own when it was snowing, and I didn't really understand why initially. The general consensus is that in heavy snow, flipping your wipers up stops them freezing to the windscreen, saves the rubber from getting stuck in a sheet of ice, and makes it way easier to clear the glass in the morning. 

In saying that, if you live somewhere that's just cold and dry, you can leave them down. Lifting them when there's no snow can stress the springs, and a strong gust of wind can snap them back onto the windscreen and crack it...not an expense I think any of us would want to be dealing with.