I grew up with 300 days of clouds and winters from Halloween to May Day so winter storms are nothing new. However, in all of my years, I've never seen this phenomenon. I would say that approximately 15% of the parking lot had flipped their windshield wipers up like in this picture.
What is going on here? Is this supposed to keep your windshield wipers from freezing to your windows?
If so, I guess that's a good idea perhaps, but if your car is that caked in ice, exactly what are windshield wipers that are in the free and clear going to do for you? I suppose perhaps you could then get in your car, heat it up, let the ice start to melt and then wipe the windshield clear?
No idea. Then it struck me, as I was thinking 'Well, should I do this too?', how many of these windshield wipers are flipped up because someone else saw the 'other guy' do that and then figured they had better too. With a bunch of ex-city slickers Up North, I definitely think some folks don't know what they are doing in inclement weather. But if the guy next to them is doing it, they have better too.