The first cold weather soft top tip I would definitely recommend is to make sure that you have a warm comfortable coat, gloves and hat to wear while driving.

From my own personal experience having a soft top and soft doors on my CJ in college while in Rochester, NY I would usually start my Jeep and let it warm up until the ice began to melt. I can empathize with Rupedog's experience of having the back window shatter. If temperatures get well below freezing the vinyl gets very brittle. After I destroyed one top I did not make the mistake again.

The portable heater sounds like a good option if you are in rush to get going.

Good Luck!!!

 

Niagara New York here, soft top only all of last winter with zero issues.

I was concerned with the weight of the snow for one, so if it got overly deep i just went out and pushed it off. (12-18" of the puffy stuff was about where i would venture out to remove it, a few inches of the good heavy snowman material would make me move pretty quickly as well) I have a large floor broom with pretty soft bristles in my garage that i push the majority of the snow off the top with. Basically my fears turned into a no issue. Just use your head, if it looks deep, push it off.

Just turn the heater on and let it warm up for a few minutes to clear the vinyl windows~really doesnt take much. I NEVER touched them with a glove or scraper.

I originally wanted the hard top for winter. Glad now i didnt spend the money on it.

 

I got my jeep before it started warming up around here, so I got the taste of ice on my windows. We might not get much snow, but dammit do we get frost every stinking morning during the winter. As for my soft top windows, I let my heater get hot enough and it'll melt away. My normal glass windows, I have a trick I do, and it’s also the reason I’ve never needed an ice scrapper despite having so much frost.

I wax my windows... yeah... wax, the same wax you put on the paint. I put about 3-4 coats on my windows.

I just brush the ice right off. True this won't last long since the wipers will slowly rub it away when it rains, but as long as you apply a new coat every so often, it'll work fine. This also helps when it rains since the water will bead up and just run off easily when doing highway speeds. If you let the wax wear down, it'll start to smear and won’t be pleasant.

 

The soft tops from my 83 CJ to my old 89 YJ were a huge improvement. I see the same level of improvement from the YJ to my wifes 03 TJ. The JK is even better yet. All of my Jeeps have stayed outside all winter. Don't mess with the plastic windows. I usually push the snow off the top with the brush end of an extendable scraper. If it's ice, I just beat the roof from the inside first to break it up and then push it off.
It's always been tree branches, on trails, that do in my soft tops. Not the weather. My soft top repair kit includes covering the damaged area with RTV sealant and then plastering duct tape on top. Works pretty good as long as you don't try to make this repair in sub-freezing temps

 

I agree snow/ice has a hard time sticking to the soft top windows. I can't say I've ever seen it stick at all here in North Carolina. (well on my TJ, haven't had the JK in the snow yet)

 

Southern Texas Here...When the snow piles up here , I just go out there and beat it with a stick...like an old lady cleanin a rug!!