Snow Hazards in Park City

Snow is one of the many cherished features of Park City, but is it really as great as we think? Roof leaks, stuck cars, and injuries are only three of many hazards of the abundance of snow we seem to have in Park City. Snow is great, but there is a point where it becomes too overwhelming, causing many time-consuming chores. Lots of snow comes with a great bill that must be paid, but some people can’t pay it or don’t have the time to fix it themselves.

Roof leaks happen to everyone, there is no way to avoid them. If there is snow on your roof, when it melts the water has nowhere to go other than down, so it sits on your roof until it works its way into your house. When a leak starts to happen, that means the snow has caused damage to your roof, which means a big bill to fix it. First, you need to hire someone to shovel the roof, or if you’re really motivated you can do it yourself. It would save money to do it yourself, but it’s a lot of hard work. “it’s better to pay for a leak now, then paying for a whole roof repair later” said Kristen Haaijer. If a leak continues without being stopped, it can eventually cause the whole roof of your house to collapse. A snow covered roof is pretty and harmless until the water ends up in your house.

Cars are constantly stuck in driveways, roads, parking lots, and other snowy places. After a big snowstorm, the snow plows won’t be able to get everywhere right away and even when they do, there is still enough snow and ice to get stuck. Especially, if your car is not a four-wheel drive car, meaning all four wheels spin not just either the front or back two. When a car has four-wheel drive, it has a better time traveling through snowy roads. No matter how much the road is plowed and salted, there will still be some snow and ice on the road and if not, there will be some on the side of the road. When there is snow near the road, cars can easily slip into a ditch or a pile of snow that they will be stuck in for the next little while. We need to stay on top of the snow conditions so we aren’t constantly calling roadside assistance.

Injuries happen every day, but when it is something as silly as sipping on ice, you really start to feel down about your injury. Ice is a very dangerous thing because when not controlled, it can become very hazardous. If someone slips on ice, concussions, broken arms, spinal injuries, ankle or foot breaks, or knee contusions are very common consequences. When it snows a lot, ice forms at the bottom to create a very slick surface. When people don’t take care of the issue or aren’t careful, they will end up having a long rest of the winter.

So everyone is wishing and hoping for snow, until we actually get it. If people become more aware of these issues, maybe their winter won’t be so aggravating. The snow plowers and homeowners need to stay on top of the conditions and risks. Snow is something everyone looks forward to in Park City, but instead let's look forward to lots of hard work and heavy bills. All great things come with a consequence.