Big Snow! How does it cover the modules?

Yesterday we got about 17" of blowy, light snow; one of the top ten snowstorms ever recorded in the Twin Cities. This morning was spent digging out our sidewalks and car and helping our neighbors do the same.

One of the things we wondered about was if we would have to keep the solar modules clear of snow in the winter time. Powerfully Green assured us that it would just slide off with no fuss, and although it would take a while for the roof installation to be cleared, the pergola with it's near 45 degree pitch would shed snow quickly as modules warmed.

Just for show and tell:

Here you can see the massive drifts in the yard. Easily 36+ inches in many places. Some of the neighbors roofs have easily 24" drifts in places. 

About 10am, 0F. Sunny. The roof installation is covered, with about 9-12 inches of drifts.

 About 10am, 0F. Sunny. Very little snow accumulated overnight on the pergola installation. Small melting drips are forming despite the temperature.

At about 230pm, temperatures "warmed" to about 5F, and while the roof installation is still covered for the most part but showing a little progress, the pergola is well on it's way to shedding the snow. It was fun watching the melting snow slide off over the side of the panels in spite of the cold. We're definitely going to want a gutter to catch rain water run off in the spring. That's a lot of surface area catching precipitation.

UPDATE:

A week of very cold and grey has prevented the roof array from clearing. A week later, that array is still mostly covered. We could sweep off the snow, but I'm intrigued to see how long it takes. This is all we've gotten uncovered at this point. The depth of snow has diminished, but we really need a sunny day to help it melt.