I asked the question at the Seattle Office of Emergency Management's winter readiness event about what they would tell homeowners to do to protect their meter from freezing. Ned Worcester of Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) responded. I was thinking something like sawdust. Oops, not so! The recommendation was for some form of insulating foam (think a pad you lay on the ground when camping) that you can wrap around the meter. The primary function being to protect the meter from the freezing air, since the ground is "generally" warmer than the air temperature. You don't want to use anything that will absorb moisture and then freeze.
FYI, I grew up in northern Illinois where 20 degrees below zero was not uncommon during every winter in the 1960s and '70s. When I lived in Wisconsin from 1976 to 1980 we had weeks of weather below zero (including 30 below zero — not including wind chill) and the frost in the ground was going down five to six feet and people were concerned about it freezing the service line going from the water meter to the home.
You can see that in our Pacific Northwest very temperate climate we are not ready for those types of conditions. Maybe global warming will take this off our action items list of issues.
