Oct. 12, 2016: what’s the significance of that date? For not a few Johnsburg residents, that is the first day of the coming winter season that they had to scrape frost off their car windows and windshields. This isn’t necessarily a happy thought but it is inevitable.

Winter is coming and, unless you can move to another hemisphere, which isn’t a bad idea, you’ll have to deal with the effects of winter. There’s the snow, the cold and the ice. But, first, there’s the frost on your windshield.

In the wee hours of Thursday, Oct. 12, 2016, the temperature outside was reported to drop down to 34 degrees. And, as result, there was frost on car windows when Johnsburg drivers went out to their cars in the morning. Of course, that wasn’t the case if their cars, SUVs or pickup trucks were parked in a garage. But, for those who were not parked in the garage, there was frost on the windshield.

If you think about it, however, at 34 degrees, there shouldn’t be frost. After all, frost is ice – it’s moisture that has frozen to the surface of the windows and windshield. And, if your memory of basic physics from grade school is correct, moisture doesn’t change from a liquid to a solid – from water to ice – until the temperature reaches 32 degrees or lower. IT’S A PHENOMENON! Not really.

In reality, though the air temperature, as measured by the weather service, is 34 degrees a few feet above the surface, lower to ground, at night when the sun doesn’t interfere, it’s a couple degrees colder. As it turned out, Thursday, in Johnsburg, it was apparently freezing.

That’s all very interesting but, other than the aforementioned move to a warmer climate, which is still a fairly good idea, what’s to be done about it? What are people to do about the frost that appears on their windows and windshields?

Here are some tips on dealing with the frost that forms on car, SUV and pickup truck windows in the Midwest climate:

• Have a good scraper in the car. You want a scraper with a plastic blade that is hard enough to scrape away the frost and ice but not so hard as to scratch the surface of the car’s windows and windshield. It’s also a good idea to have a brush in the car to wipe off the snow that will fall onto the car overnight or while you’re otherwise not driving.
• Make sure the heat and defroster works in your car. The air needs to blow up into the inside of the windshield when you want it to blow that way and it needs to get warm – even hot. It needs to warm up enough to raise the temperature of the glass above freezing.
• Check your wiper blades and make sure you have enough windshield wiper solvent. Wipers and windshield washer solvent may not clear frost off the windshield when you first come out to the car in the morning but, once you start driving, they’re imperative to keeping the windows clean and clear when you’re driving.
• Cover the windshield and windows. This is far easier if you cover it with a garage: just pull in and you’re covered. But, if you can’t pull into a garage, you may find and cover, that won’t scratch the finish of your car, and cover the windows and windshield when you park at night. There are inexpensive and magnetic covers designed specifically for this purpose.
• Apply a solvent that will make it easier to scrape the frost off the windshield or a de-icer that will help you take the frost off, such as Prestone’s Windshield De-Icer sold at Napa stores. There are also homemade solutions you can use. For instance, you can mix white vinegar 3-parts-to-one with water and spray it on the windshield at night when you park the car to help keep the frost from taking hold overnight. You can use the same solution to make it easier to scrape off frost that has formed on the car, SUV or pickup truck windshield.
• One last tip – don’t forget to bring the potted plants indoors.