Snow Question
 

We have about a foot of snow. Temperature for next week is above freezing (40-50) during the day and back below freezing at night.

Will driving my SUV up and down the driveway result in snow in driveway melting faster or slower?

On one hand, I think driving through the snow exposes more of the snow to warmer air resulting in faster melting. Plus driving through the snow will result in heat from friction. On the other hand, packing the snow down may result in a thick layer of ice.

Driveway is too long to shovel, plus I don't want to.

Driving on it will pack it down,melting a bit in the day will make it become Ice. Snow is much easer to drive on than ice. The last areas to that in the spring around here,is where we have driven. Weight pushes frost further into the ground.

In the long run, none of the things you mentioned will have a significant impact on the melt rate.

Assuming no plowing of snow, roads and driveways that are driven on are clear of snow quicker than those that aren't. I guess my question should be how much traffic does it take to make a difference.

If it gets hit by the sun I think it will melt faster if it's packed down to allow the sun to penetrate to the ground.

It's going to compact down and make ice. It will be the very last thing to melt. Ask me how I know, lol. Our driveway is blacktop and when the snow is blown off will melt quickly. All except every spot that has a car track or foot print on it. Then you have to wait for the sun to shine on the ice to loosen it and take a scraper blade to it. If we wind up with ice on the driveway we then sprinkle wood/coal ashes on it. The ashes really help with the grip and help with the melting.

It makes a difference what temp your ground is. Up here in MN I hear the frost is 4-6 feet deep in the ground.

The packed snow will melt last, and the frost is deepest under it.

If your ground is near freezing and you have little frost, then it likely makes little difference. Your snow will be gone in a week, and mine will still be here in April......

Paul

years ago, a guy was moving up north and thought he could do it in the winter. He made a roller and packed the snow down enough to drive on it. Every time he came up, he rolled it, packing it down and then driving on it.
In the spring, the snow all melted and he had 3 feet of packed ice in a long strip the width of his driveway.
When I haul logs out of the woods, I run the horses and sleigh over the trails as often as I can to get them to harden up, freeze tight. Those trails are solid when much of the snow has melted. Packed snow stays frozen longer.
Driving on it, packing it down is the worst way to get rid of snow.

The last part of the driveway to melt for me is always where my tire tracks are. However, if it is going to be the 40's and 50's and your driveway has direct sun, it probably won't matter anyway. When I left this morning, I had two snow tracks but by the time i got home, just one sad lump toward the end of the driveway.

If you can expose the earth, it will melt much faster. The ground will heat up and melt the snow, making bigger and bigger melted off areas. If you can not expose the earth, packing it down won't do much.

We sometimes go a little snowsick-crazy up here in April if we still have snow and start shoveling off patches of lawn so the sun can heat the ground. Last year, we got 2+ feet on April 19th. That just made us plain old crazy. The snow will keep things cold. In fact, on our May 4th fishing opener last year, people were ice fishing!

Pray for rain.We had close to a foot of snow on the ground,then it turned to rain and melted it all.Before the rain,I did manage to fill up 4 bags to freeze for some July the 4th snow cream..:dance::icecream:

I drove up and down the driveway 3 times yesterday, so I should know soon.

I think doing that just packs it down harder and it becomes more slick.

It probably doesn't matter if your driveway is level. If it is steep, get it clear.

Thursday

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...pse003e8c7.jpg

Saturday
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...psa64f96ef.jpg

That was from 3 times up and down on Thursday morning.

I think what makes a difference is the temperature after the snow. On Friday the temperature was near 50 and it didn't freeze last night.

So I think if warm weather follows a snowfall, driving on the driveway results in snow melting sooner. Probably just the opposite if snow is followed by freezing days and nights.

Mean while back at the ranch - :heh:

Just have to ask- does your SUV have 4WD, and was that an actual consideration when you bought it?
:D

It does have 4wd, but I wanted that for driving on the beach.

a metal leaf rake is a good way to break it up to melt faster..or shovel it off

Meanwhile, we are hoping to squeeze out 19 degrees today, with 3" more on the way tonight.

Tuesday 36 degrees! That will seem like summer out.

If you look at the picture, the lines of remaining snow are mostly tire tracks. Asphalt and packed gravel will warm faster than grass covered land next to it. But if it compressed into ice, it will take longer to melt.
If you drive enough that the heat of your vehicle makes a little difference in melting above the natural material differences, you're going to have wasted a lot of gas to see any effect. But I suspect there would be some due to engine heat and friction and tire pressure.

My theory is that by driving up and down the driveway, I created more surface area for the sun to hit, probably at least twice as much. More surface area resulted in more heat absorption.

I make sure I Pack the snow down on my driveway the very first and 2nd snow fall. That way when I use the snow blower it will not dig down and into the gravel, catching on the small rocks and in the beginning my even throw them. Don't want that so a nice hard packed driveway with snow works great.
And that stays snow packed all winter. So there is no gravel showing at all for months. And it is still covered in hard packed snow yet today and with close to 8 inches of snow going to fall today I will have no problem at all blowing the 8 inches of snow off that head packed down snow in the driveway. Love It.
Now in the spring time when the melting does start close to 2 months yet. aarrrgg. The driveway is slightly higher then the surrounding land. The driveway is 'crowned' so the water will run off and go into the yard and on the other side it will run into a field, in my area there is a lots of sand so once in the yard or field it will soak in. And it has worked great for the last 17 years I have been here doing it that way. LOL

OK - how does driving create more surface area? The sides of ruts?

Yes.

Plus I lessened some of the insulating effect of the snow by breaking the surface. Now if I had freezing days and nights, the results probably would have been ice; but since the daytime temperature was above 40 every day, it worked.

It would be interesting-ish to see if not driving at all would have allowed all the snow to have gone, not leaving the icey tire tracks.

I was going say something like that. I wish we only had 1 foot of snow. We received another 3-6" today...