When you live in the Arctic, you never know how you will find your car in the morning. Will it be covered in 20 blankets of snow? Will there be ice stuck on all the windows? Or has Mr Plow dug you in again? (Sometimes I spend a good five minutes just looking for the car!…lol). Whatever the find, if you are not prepared you will always end up 20 minutes late. Here are a few things that a Norwegian has been trying to teach an Outlander (me!) to prepare for the next time she drives:


1. Before you leave your car for the night allow the cabin to cool down either by opening the car doors or blasting the air-con. This will help prevent ice forming on the windows the next morning.

2. Before you leave your car for the night raise the windscreen wipers up. This will stop them freezing to your windscreen and make it easier to brush off the snow the next morning.

3. Before you leave your car for the night take out the snow brush and ice-scraper and take them with you. When you find your car in the morning covered in snow you will be able to brush the snow off easily to get into the car. If you forget then you will need to brush the snow off with your hand/sleeve/arm in order to get to the door handle (which is usually frozen shut) to get to the brush inside the car.

4. And most importantly, make sure you park the car where Mr Plow won’t block you in! Look for snow dumps at the side or end of roads and stay well away from them. It can take a good hour to dig yourself out of a snow mound so make sure you keep a shovel in the boot.


5. Make sure you brush the snow off all the door seams otherwise snow will get into the car when you open the doors.

6. Scrape the ice off the windscreen with the ice-scraper (usually at the end of your snow brush) for a faster melt.

7. Make sure you brush off the snow from the roof of your car otherwise it will fall down onto the windscreen when you are driving. Also brush the snow off the bonnet as the wind can blow it onto your windscreen.

8. Be prepared to get all snowed up!


9. Or, alternatively, get a garage.

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