When I was younger I don’t remember anyone doing it. Sticking windshield wipers straight up away from your windshield. The way you would if you were about to change out a blade. Only you leave them both sticking up and out all day like strange little antennae. We see it before any big snowstorm. As the forecast looks right now for Thursday, we’ll see it then.

But is it the smartest thing to do?

The thinking is, of course, that your wipers won’t get frozen to your glass. And you’ll be able to brush snow and hack ice off your glass without the wipers being frozen and in the way. Makes sense.

But AAA says there’s a downside to this life hack. Their auto expert Car Expert John Paul says sure it will keep them from freezing to your windshield, but leaving them up you run the risk of straining the spring on the arm that holds the blade against the windshield. The National Weather Service also says not to do it. There's a theory that windshield glass can be damaged if the blade arm snaps back with too much force. Then there's an opinion from Glass.com which backs up the others. A wiper blade left up can snap back down against the windshield with too much force and crack your glass, and they say the cost to replace a wiper blade is $25 whereas the cost to replace a windshield is $350.

In an article on NJ.com it's also brought up that leaving your blades up and away from your glass exposes them to damaging UV light or debris and that a better option if you're worried about them freezing to your glass is simply wrap them in a cheap towel but resting on the windshield before it storms. Personally I have another reason not to do it, but this is totally my own paranoia and I have no idea if it's actually happened. Whenever I see people leave their wipers up like this, I think some jerk teenager is going to be tempted to break them off just for kicks.

I'd love to know when this trend began. I honestly don't remember seeing this 25 years ago, but no real idea exactly when it first started. When you see everyone else doing it, you're tempted to do it yourself, like a winter weather FOMO. But really it's kind of an individual choice. So what do YOU do? Take our poll below.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski. Any opinions expressed are Jeff Deminski's own.

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