Kayak paddles, sleeves for coffee cups and spatulas were deployed across Austin this morning to scrape ice off windshields. Some commuters even used actual ice scrapers to maintain visibility as they confronted a rare hard freeze before their commutes.
According to the National Weather Service, Austin hit below freezing as of yesterday evening, a cold stretch the likes of which we hadn鈥檛 seen since 2011. Then, last night, temperatures plummeted to 15 degrees at Austin Bergstrom International Airport, there for the date.
The cold stretch forced people to improvise when it came to de-icing their cars. We put out a couple calls on social media to find out what people used. Favorite tools included credit cards and spatulas. One respondent used warm water, which, experts say, .
The question also prompted some nostalgia for CD and cassette tape cases.
Man, back in the day CD cases were awesome to use (I grew up in Tennessee, so we used them often)! I guess those days are gone...
— Levente McCrary (@LeventeMcC)
Wooden spatula that I normally smash beans with.
— Somewhere In ATX (@SomewhereinATX)
CD case (rw) but I pre-scraped to break it up with the plastic pen top!
— Luke Quinton (@LukeQuinton)
My work badge, it didn't go very well.
— Gregory 馃悎 (@NashATK)
Starbucks coffee cup paper sleeve worked wonders for me
— Mary Sicola馃嚠馃嚬馃嚭馃嚫 (@mksicola1)
On the weirder side of things, one respondent used plastic soccer cones; another grabbed an old shoe.
I used a kayak paddle, which, in retrospect, was probably overkill.
Of course, there were those among us who used actual ice scrapers. But really, where鈥檚 the fun in that?
To comment on this story or share what you used to remove ice, go to .
