School buses are back on the road--pay attention!

I do hope you understand how that is achieved. San Diego lakes do not fifer ice fishing.

I grew up in the midwest with way worse conditions than around here and just RWD. So you’re attempting to deflect to my skills or vehicle is not relevant. Again, for the umpteenth time, it is not about huge snowfalls or extreme weather. With all the trees shading the roads and temps hovering just above freezing during the day, ice forms almost every night from snowmelt. We have had more big snowfalls than you seem to recall but that really doesn’t matter. Slowing down is obvious but not a complete solution. Neither is my Dad’s sage advice that most issues arise from sudden changes. But with roads slick with ice in sections and canted toward huge oak trees, it was a daily white knuckler to drive down the roads by my house. And to head off the inevitable, I had expensive all-season Yokohamas on the car. The switch to real winter tires was stark in their superior performance in these conditions. Now, the suggestion that they aren’t needed…absolutely true. Not needed. But they are highly desirable and worth every penny to me.

Would you go back to bias ply and RWD? You can get by like that but why? I prefer to avail myself of technology improvements and safer ride… YMMV

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And I grew up in Central NY with RWD vehicles with way worse conditions than you’ve dreamed of. My town AVERAGED OVER 200ā€/yr (mostly lake effect).

For the umpteenth time - those conditions are a FRACTION of the time you’ll be driving each winter in MOST parts of the country and even here in New England. In New England you have to get up to the mountains or extremely northern NH or ME to see those conditions often enough to NEED anything but all-season tires on a decent fwd or awd vehicle. My wife or anyone I know with decent fwd vehicle and good all-season tires have no problem driving in the winter here in New England. I’m NOT saying (nor have I ever said) that winter tires aren’t better in winter driving conditions. What I’m saying is those conditions are just a fraction of typical driving here in New England and thus don’t warrant the purchase. If I lived back in the town I grew up in or in VT (where you’re either driving up a mountain or driving down a mountain) then I’d get dedicated winter tires. We go skiing a lot during the winter and we never took my wifes fwd vehicles to our place up north. Those winter road conditions are far too frequent up there. We’ve always taken one of my several AWD or 4WD vehicles I’ve owned over the years.

I think you misunderstood. One writer claimed it was cold where they lived because they can skate outdoors in the winter months. My point is that outdoor skating doesn’t necessarily mean it’s cold outside. Kids were also swimming in the Pacific Ocean that same day. Of course the rink was refrigerated. That was my point.

The problem your reference, how many baseball fields are then used for football, then ice skating depending on season? You could likewise heat outdoor tennis courts for year round use in Duluth .

Do they ice fish in San Diego?

The ice rinks aren’t deep enough.

Yes, a fraction. Like 4 months around here.

RIF- you should be old enough to know what that means. For reference:

If you lost some of the stubborn pride, you could stop to read and absorb what is written versus impulsive reacting to it.

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Where’s that - Northern Canada? Not in the Boston area. I can count on 1 hand the number of days where dedicated snow tires were needed here in Southern NH and Northern MA.

I have read it and it’s not stubborn pride. It’s experience - a lot of experience. Even tire shops around here don’t put a lot of snow/winter tires on fwd or awd vehicles. If they were needed then every snow storm we’d see a lot more accidents than we do now. 99% of those accidents are people driving too fast and/or not driving for the conditions of the road. The vast majority of people with fwd vehicles drive with all-season tires in this area. I don’t see the vast majority of people getting in accidents. What I do see is the vast majority not having any problems driving in winter conditions what-so-ever. Not even close.

Mount Lemon, just north of Tucson, Arizona, gets snow and they have the southernmost ski resort in the U.S. and that is all natural snow… It is variable, so some years there is barely enough for a good snowball fight.

But since this posting has turned to dry and wet tread tires… you can guess what most Arizonian drivers use… However, when it is snowing on the mountain, the sheriff’s office closes the road to all but 4-wheel drive vehicles and vehicles with tire chains. The police do not accept a driver’s word that their tires are ā€œsnow tiresā€¦ā€

In an attempt to prevent road jams caused by vehicles being turned around on the Catalina Highway to Mt. Lemmon, the Pima County Sherriff’s Office issues alerts of road closure hotline at (520) 351-3351, and they have live webcams feeds before you start your trip to get the most current road status.

I posted about Mount Lemon several years go…

https://community.cartalk.com/t/vehicle-suggestion-for-a-hiker-who-misses-driving-a-car/191746/23?u=loudthunder

Well, since this topic started off with School Buses, so I might as well get back on the bandwagon (err, school bus…).

It is pretty much a running joke that drivers from the south do not know how to drive in inclement weather, and we are probably just as much to blame for this punch line…

Some of you might be aware that Hurricane Erin is off in the Atlantic and may pose a threat to the eastern seaboard. But right now, it is only causing some rain in my area of Virginia…

I just heard that due to the rain, my county’s schools will be closing early… So all of you that have adjusted your driving schedules to avoid the school bus traffic will have to reschedule your trips… And all those soccer moms will have to cut their Yoga and Pilate’s class and go pick up their kids…

This is the weather map and you can see that some rain clouds near the arrow, but it’s not pouring, it’s raining…

And here is the early release scheduled times…

When I grew up in New York in the '50s and '60s, school was only closed or delayed when the snowplows could not get through… And we never had early release due to summer heat because there was no A/C…

I guess that closing schedule would be useful if I had planned to go there today .

The police don’t have to. They should just look at the tire for the three mountain peak snow flake symbol. That’s what defines a winter tire.

California does the same (requires chains even if it’s an inch of snow) and I find it ridiculous.

Colorado doesn’t. I’ve driven across the continental divide in a FWD minivan with all season M+S tires during a snowstorm and had no trouble. That’s all that is required. Chains are not required except by trucks.

And yes I asked a trooper before I set out.

Just Southeastern Virginia? It looks like Richmond and the I-95 corridor up past Baltimore has rain. I can verify that there is light rain west of Baltimore and has been since noon. My wife’s cousin is in southern Delaware and she says that it’s pouring there.

I have heard similar arguments many times when I was growing up in New York State… ā€œI should not have gotten stuck in the snow, I have ā€˜snow tires’ on my carā€¦ā€ I think everyone will agree that snow tires, depending on brand, depending on the vehicle, etc… have various levels of effectiveness… and that does not even take into account the wear on the tires… And then there is the feeling of invincibility of having snow tires on slick roads and those southern drivers who have little or no experience driving in slick conditions will over-drive their vehicles…

That is why the authorities require a four-wheel drive or snow chains… and do not count Snow Tires as a viable substitute for the four-wheel drive or snow chains… But those ā€œentitledā€ drivers who show up anyway will be turned around, not just for their safety, but everyone else’s safety on those roads…

My wifes cousin who was from Buffalo moved to CA. Her youngest son grew up in Los Angeles had never drivenin the snow and knew nothing about cars decided to see his sister who lived in Bend Oregon which is over the mountains.

He was stopped by the police because it was snowing on the mountain. He had to buy chains and have them put on. He told me it was a good thing he did because he was slip sliding all the way to the top. They put the chains on his front wheels. He had an early Mazda MPV minivan, which was rear wheel drive!!!

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I think it is because you still are saying the same thing even though it has been mentioned numerous times-

Mike, it gets below freezing at night on average for 3-4 months in this area. See the temperature chart posted earlier to correct your claim regarding average temps for this area.

Snow or the odd rain FREEZES on the road every night and I have to drive on it in the morning. It’s not about SNOW, it’s about ICE. And if you don’t encounter that, congratulations. Most everyone else in this area does. Lots of people run around with studded tires in my town.

I only quoted you once but here it is again- it hasn’t sunk in. I already pointed out that they are not NEEDED. They are beneficial. It’s tiresome and obviously futile so time to move on…

And you spend most of your driving at night? You know what I do when the roads might be a little slippery? I SLOW DOWN AND TAKE MORE CARE. Simple concept. No need to rush home to put on winter tires for the marginal increase it’ll give me except for the extreme weather days.

I admitted they can be beneficial - reread my comments. Where we differ is HOW BENEFICIAL. In southern NH and northern MA very little. Most people around here driving in FWD vehicles do NOT have dedicated winter tires.

You guys are arguing apples and oranges. I also think Mike in NH is like me, is very adept at winter driving and does not mind if his car slides around a bit

When driving my wifes FWD vehicles - the cars would NEVER EVER slide around unless I was driving too fast.

One winter in the late 1970s we had a big snowstorm. Everything was shut down. I went out for a drive in my VW Rabbit. I drove too fast for the conditions, but the car still held the road. All snow, no ice. I got to a Y and the left leg had a big drift. I just had to drive through it, of course. I didn’t make it. After being stopped by the drift, I backed out and returned to my apartment. Fun day.