Raising your car’s windshield wiper blades before a snow storm doesn’t make much of a difference.

Before the arrival of a snow storm it’s not uncommon to see people lift their car’s windshield wiper blades up. It can make people who do not do this question if it is worth doing and the answer is a resounding: maybe.

If the arriving storm will have lots of ice then lifting your wiper blades up helps prevent them from freezing to the glass. Attempting to move blades that have frozen to the glass can damage the rubber of the blades or even the motor of the wipers. That said if the blades are frozen with ice so is the rest of your car. You will most likely be letting the car’s heat & defrost run for a while which will free your blades and fix this problem.

There seems to be no consensus as to which way is better. Any potential benefit seems negligible. If you want to lift your car’s windshield blades before a big snow storm, go for it. If not, that works too.

Added info: one thing you should definitely do all winter is keep enough gas in your car’s gas tank.