Taking advantage of the countless benefits of the LED, including its lower power consumption, and longer lifetime, various cities in the Unites States have been replacing traditional filament-based traffic signal bulbs with LED bulbs for years. Unfortunately, the low-wattage LED units are not hot enough to melt the snow that sticks to the lenses of traffic signals, causing dozens of accidents.

Recently, police departments across northern United States have noticed an uptick in accidents related to snow-packed LED traffic signals. Whereas incandescent bulbs melt the snow, the LED units cannot, and the snow blocks the traffic light. The problem happens during heavy, wet snow with high cross wind, and can persist as long as the temperature has not been raised to naturally melt the snow.

Municipalities around the country are taking different steps to keep their signals shining brightly in the face of Mother Nature. Crews in St. Paul, Minnesota, use compressed air to keep their lights clean. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, city workers brush the snow off by hand in a labor-intensive process.