Freezing rain in rain guage

This morning, 12/10/07 proved to test the dedication of this observer. The guage was covered in ice and frozen inside. After chipping away to get the guage loose from it attachment, I thawed the guage in a warm water bath, being careful to not get any water from the outside into the guage. During this time, I missed catching precipitation that was occurring. Hopefully, it was not any significant amount as the precipitation was intermittant. But the time to melt the water in the rain guage was about 40 minutes. Are there any suggestions to improve upon this process?