This question comes from Matt, who asks: I've long thought about putting a flamethrower on the front of a car to melt snow and ice before you drive across it.
Now I've realized that a flamethrower is impractical, but what about a high-powered microwave emitter?
Believe it or not, Matt, your flamethrower idea is actually the more practical of the two.
The flamethrower also has the advantage that, unlike the microwave, it won't interfere with wifi (unless you aim it directly at the router).
I originally researched this question in the winter of 2015, when Boston was buried under a truly ridiculous amount of snow.
We'd had more snow in 30 days than Anchorage, Alaska usually gets in an entire winter.
Our transit system had broken down and our roofs were collapsing.
The mayor gave a press conference in which he actually announced, "I don't know what to say to anybody anymore. Hopefully it will stop eventually." So snow removal was on our minds. However, snow is hard to melt.
Your microwave idea certainly sounds like it should be more practical than a flamethrower because microwaves are clean and efficient.
After all, we don't use flamethrowers in our kitchens. Usually.
