Do Potholes Form in Winter or Summer?
Netbiz ✈️ |
Potholes are an extremely common form of road damage, affecting roads on every continent all over the world. However, potholes don’t form all year round, despite their commonality.
Potholes normally form during the winter months, when the conditions are just right. In contrast, fresh potholes are incredibly rare during the summer. To understand why this is you first have to understand why and how potholes form in the first place.
What Are Potholes?
As we’ve previously mentioned, potholes are normally formed when water seeps into cracks in a damaged road surface. Normally this water comes from rainwater; however, in areas with severe and repeated flooding, it’s not uncommon for potholes to form as a result of this water – particularly if the area doesn’t have adequate drainage.
During cold nights (when the temperature reaches near 0 degrees) this water freezes, causing damage to the road surface and forcing the crack to grow. Once that crack has become large enough and enough pressure has been put on it it will collapse. This creates a pothole.
As you can imagine, a pothole requires both water and a cold temperature form. Without water or a similar liquid, there is nothing to freeze and force any cracks to expand. Likewise, without cold temperatures, any liquid which has been caught within the cracks of the road can’t expand – meaning it will evaporate eventually.
Pothole Repair From BituChem
As you can see the reason why potholes primarily form during the winter is that the weather and temperature are just right for them to form. In the summer, it’s just too hot and dry for potholes to form. Because of that, summer is the perfect time of year to have any potholes repaired and apply surface dressing and pavement waterproofing as necessary.
BituChem offers a wide variety of road maintenance products. For example, our AirPatch product is an excellent solution for repairing potholes. FortSeal, meanwhile, offers high-quality road waterproofing and highway preservation at an affordable price and extends the overall life of the road.
Get in touch with BituChem today for more information about how our products can be used for road and highway repair.