How do you drive when ice accumulates on the windshield?

I am from The South and have little experience in cold weather driving.

I have regular windshield wipers on a regular car (Toyota Corolla). There was a mixture of snow, hail and rain pouring down. My car was inside a garage and the windshield was fine at first. The mixture of snow, hail and rain turned into pure rain. However, had the mixture of snow, hail and rain kept pouring down, I would have had to pull over and wait. My windshield accumulated ice. Small, flat chunks of ice were spread all over my windshield to the point I could barely see the road in front of me. As my heater heated up inside the cabin the precipitation outside also turned into liquid (rain). I could then see again clearly.

If it is just snowing or just raining, my wipers will work. I haven't driven in the hail before. Does anyone have any suggestions if there is a long-duration mixture of snow, hail and rain falling that makes a car's windshield have very little visibility? I'm not sure what I would do if the conditions continued. Maybe the heater in the cabin would warm up the glass and melt the ice outside. It seems like I am doing something wrong. The moment of no visibility was a concern to me.

Defrost is your friend.

Defrost is your friend. That was the only way I was able to drive in Philadelphia. Your feet are freezing but at least you can see where you are going.

Another solution is move to California...

The windshield washer fluid normally contains some deicer to help melt ice and snow on the windshield. It gets warm in the engine compartment and helps a lot. Spray periodically on the windshield when driving. Keep it filled. Buy the fluid which is rated the coldest temperature. It contains the most deicer (alcohol).

Defroster use is critical, as noted by the previous posters. Sometimes you actually have to pull over and scrape the windshield with a scraper.