If the stalactite sized icicles around your sprinkler heads aren't enough incentive, the City of Spokane has a request for homeowners.

Turn off your sprinklers.

Seems there are problems this morning with water from sprinklers running down the street, turning to ice and making slick spots on the streets. That's apparently from sprinklers that are watering frozen ground, which, as one might imagine, does not soak up much water. For a homeowner, that might be marginally better than the alternative, which involves the water in the pipes being just as frozen as the ground, bursting the pipes and sprinkler heads and creating improptue ice sculptures.

So, to repeat, turn off your sprinklers. And drain the system to avoid frozen pipes and heads.

City Water Department also has some other cold weater suggestions, which are reprinted inside the blog. They're the standard things, but this may be the earliest we've printed them.

• Make sure water pipes in unheated parts of your home, including crawl spaces, are insulated.
• Seal all openings in the basement around the foundation, windows, and doors.
• Insulate around pipes in your basement that are close to windows.
• Advise all household members where the main water shutoff valve is located in case of emergency.