An air streamer on the outside wall directed at the welcome-mat. When snow accumulates (eg: when the colour of the mat changes to white), it activates long enough to blow the area clean. Unlike a doorway canopy it also removes drifted snow.
Perhaps a kit for an electric leafblower.
(We only got maybe half a foot yesterday but, thanks to some karma I'm not aware of, most of the neighbourhood's snowfall drifted into my driveway, averaging a metre deep. I had to partially dismantle the door and dig out of the 4 foot drift piled up against it, with a roasting pan.)-- FlyingToaster, Feb 03 2015 Might I suggest changing your door to be an in-swing door so you don't have to disassemble it to get out in the future? But the door blower is a good idea too.-- scad mientist, Feb 03 2015 Greetings from Florida. Hope you get out but we're full.-- cudgel, Feb 03 2015 // dig out … with a roasting pan //
That bespeaks a lack of preparedness, for which you deserve to suffer, door blower or no.-- 8th of 7, Feb 03 2015 [scad] The doorframe has a regular inner door which opens inwards, also an outer "storm door", of flimsy aluminium, which purpose is to come unlatched and flap around wildly in high winds.
[8/7] Usually that side of the building is in the lee of the wind. I've the inset door-window slightly open to let cats(/raccoons) in and out; it was just a matter of removing it completely.
Anyways, I've seen pics of hilarity ensuing when your locale gets a light dusting.-- FlyingToaster, Feb 03 2015 I'm thinking that an electrically-heated doormat would be simpler.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 03 2015 Why not just push the button which opens the trap door under the welcome mat? Let the snow melt at its leisure. Seems a pretty obvious solution to me.-- AusCan531, Feb 03 2015 Would be handy for the windier parts of the uk, the blower could counter-act the wind blowing the door open as you struggle to close it with shopping bags in each hand.
With a good motion detector it could deter home invasions, tax men and so on. With a doppler radar, a swivel and a long spring it could also be instantaneously be deployed at the foot of the stairs to cushion the drop of anyone falling down the stairs.-- not_morrison_rm, Feb 03 2015 //Usually that side of the building is in the lee of the wind.//
Can't you just turn the building then ? Sheesh, it's like you're deliberately making difficulties ...
// to let cats(/raccoons) in //
We hope you freeze and/or starve to death, along with your despicable felines.-- 8th of 7, Feb 03 2015 //simpler// Why would I want that?-- Voice, Feb 03 2015 "You look like you've blown a doorseal!
"Bullshit, it's just snow!"-- UnaBubba, Feb 03 2015 What's needed here is a wind-powered snow-blower. If there's enough wind to pile up drifts against your door, there's enough wind to power, through a system of gears and belts, a small fan to blow snow away from the area right next to your door.-- hippo, Feb 03 2015 Clever, [hip], you should post that.-- 8th of 7, Feb 03 2015 Solution: 1. Work in the same building as a large metropolitan hospital where dedicated employees clear the snow with a vigor only overtime pay can provide. 2. Don't leave.-- bs0u0155, Feb 03 2015 Metal grate door mat over an opening, nothing collects. Don't drop your keys.-- tatterdemalion, Feb 03 2015 I wonder if a rejiggering of exterior architecture could prevent this in the future. This is sort of like strategic placement of jetties and such to prevent beaches from washing away or to encourage deposition of sand from the washed away beach of the neighboring city.
I think in some places ad hoc fencing is used for this purpose, to slow the wind and produce snow deposits out on the lawn and away from traveled areas. Maybe a bench, hedge or line of cement garden sculpture could do that for you, FT?-- bungston, Feb 03 2015 Snow fences help but they're not a complete cure. Perhaps if architecture over a wide area is designed for it.-- Voice, Feb 04 2015 Well, the wall the door is on is usually downwind, so there's often a convenient pocket in any drift where the door is. But the other day, when most of the neighbourhood had maybe half a foot of snow, our driveway was up around 3 feet. We're at a "T" intersection; speculation is that the wind was at the exact angle of the facing street, clearing it at our expense. Or some bugger with a snowblower and time on their hands in the middle of the night decided to have some fun.
//despicable felines// Have you priced trained minions recently ?-- FlyingToaster, Feb 04 2015 Yes, and they're a bloody fortune - downright criminal, it is, the money some of them want for perfectly simple henching jobs …
Sometimes being The Embodiment Of Total Evil is hard work, particularly when there's so much competition around.-- 8th of 7, Feb 04 2015 random, halfbakery