I didn't go into work this past Monday. The forecast was for snow, up to three inches for the day. I waffled about going in until it was too late to reasonably go in. As it turned out, there was barely an inch of snow for the day, and almost none of it laid on the road. This meant the I would have been able to get to work, stay open for most of the day, and get home with little trouble. By not going in, it also meant that I had to go to work on Tuesday no matter what. It turned out that the three inches of snow meant for Monday fell overnight into Tuesday. In fact, the snow wouldn't peter out until late morning/early afternoon on Tuesday. While most of the roads were at least partially cleared, at least one bad stretch wasn't. The plow for the road had broken down, leaving at least five miles of road ice- and snow-covered. I wound up leaving late and taking an alternate route into work that was about a third of the way longer. However, almost all of the way was clear with only an occasional icy patch to contend with. One of the reasons I left late was that I wanted to clear as much ice and snow off my car. I was able to even get the wipers ice-free before I left. Even the parking lot in the center where my store is located was mostly cleared. There was one problem. The service always seems to scrape the snow into a pile right where I like to park my car. The spot is right under a light fixture. I guess that makes it an easy place to scrape to, as the plow can't get to close to them anyway. Unfortunately, piling all the snow causes a problem. If left on its own, a small accumulation of snow like this would melt in a few days of above freezing temperatures and indirect sunlight. A large pile would take weeks to melt. It generates a sort of "cold field" that makes it take longer to fully melt. During really huge snowstorms, the resulting piles can get well over seven feet tall and over a dozen feet long. The current pile is just barely taller than me, but I don't think of myself as tall. The main pile is about six feet long, with another few feet of smaller piles trailing off of it. It takes up at least seven parking spaces. Meanwhile, almost all other spaces in the entire center are now clear, save for the pile near the lights. Whenever a pile this large is formed, I try to help it along in melting by making it smaller. One technique I use is a poking stick. I take a long pole and make holes in the pile. This allows light to enter deeper into the pile to help it melt. It also allows water, from rain or more melting, to trickle down and help melt in even more. I also use the stick to break up larger chunks into smaller ones that are easier to melt. My current "stick" is the bottom of an old mop or cleaner, or something else, whose head broke off years ago. It was once about four feet long, but it is currently about two feet long as further sections have broken off. Based on the current forecasts, another cold spell is coming up, meaning little melting will take place, even in direct sunlight, which the pile isn't really in. It will probably be weeks before I can park in my space again. Sure, once a light broke off and landed on my windshield, damaging it, but it still is a great spot. I can see it from the store, and it is close enough that I can't get too wet in bad weather, and really, was makes a spot better than that.
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