With last week’s first official winter storm and another good one over the weekend, we figured it was the right time to remind you of some simple yet very helpful tips to removing snow after a storm. When it snows this early in the season, it could mean a very long and very white few months.
And thanks to the people at the Bow Public Works Department, we’ve got some pointers that should help make all that snow removal a little easier on the old body – while also adding a few ways to keep your mailbox safe. It’s hard work shoveling through several inches and sometimes a foot, and if you have to do it multiple times in a short time frame (remember the winter of 2014?) it can get a little old, real fast.
- Prevent back injuries by using small shovel loads and shoveling in layers, starting from the top. It’s a lot easier than starting at the bottom. Or, just make your children, spouse or roommate do all the work.
- Shovel in time intervals, every hour or two, to reduce the amount of snow accumulation. It’s not like you have anything better to do than to constantly go out in a snowstorm, like being warm.
- At the road side, pile snow on the side of your driveway, on the downstream-flow of traffic. This reduces the amount of snow the plow truck puts in your driveway. It’s amazing how a couple inches can turn into a foot-high barrier preventing you from leaving your house
- Don’t throw snow into the street – it creates a driving hazard and eliminates the plows from pushing the snow in front of your driveway. That’s just good advice.
- Prevent damage to your mailbox by maintaining a sturdy mail box; perform repairs every fall season. While it’s a little past that fall time frame, there’s always next year.
- Add reflectors to mailboxes; Christmas lights work great too! And they will cheer you up as the winter months trudge along.
- Keep snow cleaned away from mailboxes; each winter event, accumulation becomes a block of ice and added plow pressure can cause damage. And if the mail truck can’t get in, how will you get all your bills and junk mail?
- If your mailbox seems to always be a target, contact public works and ask what can be done to prevent further strikes. The most common contributing factor is the location – post too close to the road, or maybe it is located on a sharp curve and needs to be relocated. This is something you might want to take care of, you don’t want to buy a new mailbox each spring.
Hopefully you find this helpful. But otherwise, have a safe winter season and remember the plow trucks are here to help – even when they push big piles of snow at the end of your driveway that you just finished shoveling.
Insider staff
