Let it snow let it snow... let it SNOW!!!

[Nowhere]

Little update: it seems like snow is here to stay... To bad that it melted a bit anyway, so it's a bit slippy...

[Jon P. Inghram]

Maybe the drivers behind you are using studded tyres, just like most of the Scandinavians do in the wintertime.

I'd be happy if that were true, but around here your average SUV driver probably doesn't even know what studded tires are or why you'd want them.

[Dr Mordrid]

For the most part studded tires (and chains) are illegal in Michigan, dispite our climate, unless the tire maker has supplied certain road wear information to the State. The reason is that they tear the roads up mercilessly. So far no manufacturer has supplied the required information in the 30+ years since the law was passed, so they're all illegal

Dr. Mordrid

[Technoid]

we got an inch of snow this night, yay

Jokes asside, there's definitly global warming going on, and its happening much much quicker than anyone wants to admit, we've gone from 1.5m+ every winter and with the snow not melting away for several months to perhaps a half meter once or twice during the whole "winter period" and it usually melts away within the week and all that in only 20 years of time

[Brian Ellis]

For the most part studded tires (and chains) are illegal in Michigan, dispite our climate, unless the tire maker has supplied certain road wear information to the State. The reason is that they tear the roads up mercilessly. So far no manufacturer has supplied the required information in the 30+ years since the law was passed, so they're all illegal

Dr. Mordrid

I agree that studded tyres are hell for road surfaces, but they are next to useless on snow, anyway. They are useful only on black ice. In Switzerland, they are tolerated in mountain areas but cars thus equipped must wear a special sticker on the back to warn tailgaters that they are likely to experiment their crumple zones if the car in front brakes on ice. They are speed-limited to 80 km/h max, even on highways, to reduce road surface wear. They are also very noisy.

Chains are useful only in snow. In Switzerland, they are mandatory under some conditions, even for cars with snow (NOT 4-season) tyres, LandRovers and suchlike, on all driving wheels. They are not a big problem for road surfaces, because the drivers remove them when there is no snow, because the noise and vibration are intolerable and a few km on hard surfaces will break the chains, anyway. In the case of roads where there are bare tracks, you see the guys with chains offsetting their cars from the lane centre, to keep on the snow . I was so used to putting them on, I got the time down to 22 secs/wheel, even in -20°C weather, with gloves on. Taking them off slightly longer, as I had to push the car so that they were oriented correctly. Obviously, you don't have mountain conditions with roads going up to 2000 m in Michigan, otherwise your law would be deemed stupid, although it would make a good population regulator!

Even in this country, it is sometimes mandatory to wear chains to go to the mountains, if you don't have a 4-WD vehicle with chunky tyres (see Rakido's photo).

[Dr Mordrid]

Ahhhh.....black ice; AKA = a Michigan Rollercoaster

Dr. Mordrid