Like I said I was born and raised in a place that probably has the worst winter conditions for small city in the US, and I've never really even had someone suggest using snowtires. Do they work pretty well?

They use summer tires, not all season tires.

They work great. I got a set of Blizzaks cheap when I worked for a parts store out of high school and haven't gone back since. I'm from the same town.

Here, in Fargo, almost everyone uses all seasons and doesn't switch out seasonally. They just ride them year round.

From the link:

I grew up in the dark blue belt.

Although I gotta be honest, I'm pretty sure we were closing school down before two feet of snow at times. Depending on when it fell, of course.

And someone called me a sociopath.

That was me!

You live in fargo?

I have a hard time believing thats true. It takes a lot for a school cancellation strictly on temp or wind chill. High winds + snow (blizzard) accounts for more cancellations I'd imagine.

For the record, I meant it was HILARIOUS that the administrators/governators had the projections and facts right in front of them and then voted "YES, we are having school tomorrow". Not that children were very very chilly.

Noted.

minneapolis has canceled school 4 or 5 times in the past couple weeks because of temp/wind chill only. that's -20 to -25 temps with -50 wind chill though so ya i'd call that a lot

Never used snow tires in fifteen yers or so driving in Ontario. Put them on this year and there's a remarkable difference. I can see how people with them on can get overconfident however.

As a transplanted northerner who made it up 75N eventually, I agree.

yeah fargo has as well, but this is has been one of the coldest in like 8 years or something like that for us

Same for most folks where I am. I have lived in the NWT or Alberta for the last 30 years. Have only ever used all season tires.

There have been a few times that I wished I had snow tires on, but the conditions have always been icy, not snowy. I really think that snow/winter tires can be a bit of a misnomer. The softer tires with better traction are more helpful for icy conditions than snow IMO.

PS. there are some folks who, in the winter, run their all seasons a few PSI below the recommended pressure. This simulates a softer tire and more rubber on the road. Have to be careful though. For example, running 35PSI tires at 30-32PSI should not be a problem, but going any lower may not be good.

PPS. People are talking lots about tires but rear-wheel drive cars are the worst thing to have on the road in ice or snow.

Wrong.

Unicycles?

I've owned a RWD, FWD and AWD vehicle in my years living in MN and the RWD was by far the worst to operate in winter conditions. My little AWD Subaru was amazing, i drove it in some absurd conditions and it never let me down.

wat

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tests/...y.jsp?ttid=103

I saw on the news this morning the Alabama state troopers investigated over 800 wrecks in the 2 or 3 days that lasted. No telling how many more went unreported or handled by the locals

I didn't notice this thread when it was all going on.

My brother got stuck for 23 hours. He works at Delta by the airport and was trying to get to his apartment up on Akers Mill Road (for those not in the know, it's NW of the city, right by where the new stadium will be). He left work at 1:30pm and at something like 2:30am, he gave up and resigned himself to being stranded at West Paces Ferry and Northside Drive. I actually thought that the guy in the pic of people sleeping in CVS might have been him (was not). A few hours before he got to his ending point for the night, he almost tried to get on I-75, but I advised him against it. Figured getting stuck on a surface street was much better than getting stuck on the highway.

Fortunately, he had plenty of gas. He also picked up a guy who for some reason was trying to walk to Cumberland Mall from around Moores Mill/Howell Mill. He got a little tired of being responsible for him (18-year old kid), but he was thankful he had the company.

My family was lucky (East Cobb). My wife left work just in time (New Northside Drive, again by the new Braves stadium) and got our little one at pre-school. My first grader was dismissed just in time, too, and got home at about 1:00pm.

I got home in 3.5 hours. Driving from Alpharetta to East Cobb. which is normally a 30 min drive, maybe 45 with traffic/lights.

Later on I realized I was one of the lucky ones.

The only benefit a FWD car has in slick conditions is if the weight distribution is very front-bias, which isn't really the case anymore, because the added weight will help get a FWD car moving from a stop.

In something sporty like a BMW or Cadillac where weight distribution is 50/50 RWD with proper driving education is far superior. In something where the weight distribution is rear-biased like a Porsche 911, RWD is going to give the driver the best of both worlds, the ability to start from a stop with ease in slick conditions, and the ability to actually control the vehicle once it begins to slide.

FWD is "safe" because the natural instinct people have when they begin to slide is to spike the brakes and turn the wheel. Doing this in the snow is going to, without fail, cause the car to continue to go perfectly straight until it slows down. This is not great, however, it's very predictable so people don't really get nervous or freak out when it happens. They often just see themselves slowly gliding in to whatever may be in front of them. This concept is called understeer

RWD, however, provides the driver with a hell of a lot more options because RWD cars are able to oversteer, especially when traction is at a minimum. If traction is lost while turning in a RWD car, rather than being forced to slide straight ahead, the driver can simply turn the wheel while keeping the throttle going, or even applying more throttle and the vehicle will correct itself.

However, spiking the brakes and cutting the wheel will result in massive oversteer, a "spinout" and then you are at the mercy of physics just like in FWD, except there's a lot more bad stuff going on. Panicking in a RWD car will lead to messes, bigger messes than FWD. Knowing what to do, and just as importantly, staying calm and remembering what to do when the car begins to slide will definitely keep a RWD in fewer crashes.

My general philosophy is to drive RWD and recommend FWD with snow tires, and to never talk about these things in person because I've found everyone I've ever met knows more about driving than I do.