Winter Set up?

[BrianG]

Pure water has around 15k ohms of resistance per inch, less in normal, mineral (especially salt) laden water. Water doesn't usually short out electrical connections unless it has very high salt/mineral content. It's usually the resulting corrosion that does more damage than it simply getting wet. Corrosion creates bad connections, then arcing, heat, and so on.

If a circuit "blows" because it got wet, it's most likely caused by the low voltage section of the circuit where the resistors and caps have larger values, which changes the signals and causes the output to do strange things.

Since snow, mixed with whatever is on the ground, can have high mineral content, it might cause substantial oxidation/corrosion in things like the motor, wiring, battery contacts, causing them to go bad.