Five winter weather impacts to watch for as you head out the door

Here are some winter weather impacts to watch for as you head out the door:

Clearing Snow And Ice Off Your Car Before you can hit the roads, you may need to clear snow and ice off your car. A layer of ice is covering the snow, so you'll need a snow brush and an ice scraper to do the job. Getting in may be a battle. If door locks are frozen, try a deicing spray or blow through a straw to let your breath melt the frozen lock. Sounds crazy but it works! Once inside, turn on the defrosters while you're clearing to speed the job.

Snow Covered, Slushy Roads Roads that have not been plowed or treated will have ruts -- a common winter problem. Ruts will be most likely on side streets, hills and curves where drivers get stuck and spin. Driving in ruts can be tough because they can cause your vehicle to pull from side to side. Temperatures below freezing will make ruts icy and even harder to deal with.

Black Ice Runoff from melting snow and the leftovers of the wintry mix of sleet, freezing rain and rain will refreeze as temperatures fall into the teens. Roads and sidewalks may look wet, but could be icy. "Black Ice" -- a thin, transparent layer of ice on surfaces -- can be the cause of auto accidents and slick sidewalks.

Clearing The Ice Temperatures won't climb above freezing Thursday, so you'll need an "ice melting" product to cut through the layers of snow, sleet and freezing rain. Rock salt is the old standby, but -- with temperatures in the teens -- you'll need an ice melter that works well when it gets very cold. Here's a breakdown of the effective temperature of some of the more popular ice melting products:

• Rock Salt-20º to 22º
• Potassium Chloride 12º
• Magnesium Chloride 5º
• Calcium Chloride -25º

Wind Chill As the air temperature falls into the teens, wind chills will dip into the low single digits by Thursday morning. Dress in layers and cover your head and hands.

Cox Media Group