PSA —
It appears that starting Sunday, the 2025 shoveling season will be underway here in Lafayette/West Lafayette and the rest of Tippecanoe County! Radar predicts 6+ inches of snow expected to fall in the Tippecanoe area starting Sunday morning. So make sure you have your shovels, ice melted/sand, snow blowers, and lower backs ready to go!
A couple of tips I would like to offer:
1) Spray a lubricant on your shovels to help prevent snow from sticking. Silicon works as do your non-stick cooking sprays.
2) There are different types of ice melts for specific applications.
-Rock salt is the cheapest but the worst for your concrete and lawn. It works by lowering the melting point of ice.
-Calcium chloride, it is safer for your concrete, works better than salt as lower temps but is corrosive to exposed skin and to the feet of our four legged friends.
-Magnesium chloride is the third option, it is safe for pets, non corrosive but more expensive because it usually needs to be applied in larger quantities.
-If you have brick pavers though, your best plan is plain old-fashioned sand. It won’t melt ice, but it will provide good traction and runs zero risk of damaging the expensive pavers you had installed last spring
3) For those of you with snow blowers, make sure you have started them recently and they have a fresh tank of Ethenol-Free gas. The only station I know of that sells ethanol free fuels is the Circle K in Dayton. Also, spraying both stages of your auger blades with the lubricant mentioned above help reduce clogs when trying to clear wet sticky heavy snow.
4) Lastly keep an eye on your most important tool for shoveling snow, your back! Always stretch before and after shoveling. The cold can will tighten you up in places you haven’t used since 2024. Lift and scoop with your legs not with your back, it might sounds like a no brainer but we are all guilty of forgetting the proper way to leverage our bodies.
Good luck out there this weekend everyone. Hope y’all get your shoveling done early so you can get a couple turns in at the sledding hill!