How to Shovel Snow

1. Shoveling is done in phases. From snow to perfectly clear surface takes a minimum of two phases: (1) clearing excess fluffy snow, and (2) melting residue. Melting residue is the sun's job; yours is to create an environment where melting helps rather than harms your clearing.

2. Melt-freeze is worse than not melting. Every day, the temperature rises, then falls at night. Usually it crosses the freezing point. And if snow melts and freezes, it changes to ice, which is multiply harder to remove. So you want to shovel before snow has changed to ice.

3. Snow turns to ice in two ways: freezing and pressure. Pressure - weight on snow - compacts it and accelerates its conversion to ice. You must tackle snowpack before pressure can compress it to where it can no longer be shoveled, only pick-axed.

4. Shovel when the time is right. If you shovel when the snow can be moved, you can move it all easily. If you wait until it is hard, the job not only takes longer, it may be impossible. So you want to shovel (1) as soon as possible after a snowfall, before melt-freeze or pressure can create ice, and (2) any time the temperature has warmed enough to allow clearing.

5. Melting snow will refreeze if you let it. People often see snow softened by afternoon sunlight and assume their problem is over. It isn't. Left alone, that slush will refreeze into sculptural ice that is all but impossible to get up. Any time you think the temperature is about to drop - evening, a change in weather - clear whatever slush is movable.

6. The sun is your friend. Even modest winter sunlight slanting at an angle can do wonders to melt (or sublime) snow. Shovel before the sun hits the pack so that you get maximum sunlight before a melt-freeze cycle.

7. When clearing, get to black. When clearing fluffy snow, concentrate on exposing as much of the subsurface (usually pavement) as you can. The goal here is not perfection but reducing albedo: the darker the visible surface, the more sunlight will melt for you. What will start as a hint of black will over a few hours turn into bare spots that steadily spread, if not during one day, over several days.

8. Have the right clearing implements. Different snow invites different clearing: a big fat plastic blade to move fluff in bulk, a broom to sweep a dusting (get to black!), or a flat steel blade to scrape surfaces, break up pack before it becomes ice, or crisp fragile ice.

9. Break ice in pieces. If you are stuck with a patch of ice (from pressure or melt-freeze), break it or at least crack it. Aside from sweeping away the loose pieces, even simple cracking exposes more surfaces to air (so more can melt) and give subsurface melt a place to sublime.

10. Eschew sand. Sand is a quick fix - great for about an hour, hideous thereafter. And if sand melt-freezes into ice, you have the worst, least removable conglomerate imaginable.

11. Go easy on the halite. That stuff is miraculous. Aside from the question of purity of purpose (why cheat?), it can harm vegetation. A little goes a very long way.

David A. Smith
1/26/01

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ã Copyright 2002 David Alexander Smith