I am looking to move to the midwest within the next couple years. I moved to florida when I was 13 and have only driven somewhere after it snowed one time and the roads were all plowed.

How do you drive when it snows a little bit but the plows haven't come yet or it just isnt enough snow to plow? How do you know where to drive if you cant see where the side of the road ends?

Also do you need 2 sets of different tires, one for summer and one set for winter? Or are there all year around tires that companies make? Or does the tread pattern not really matter?

1. You drive like granny is in the front seat holding a boiling hot pot of soup that's full to the brim. Gentle braking, turning, acceleration (except if trying to get a run going up a hill).

2. You don't need two sets of tires. I've lived in the north my entire life always used 1 set of all seasons year round and a lot of people do the same. Dedicated winter tires do help though. If you try to use summer tires in winter, you're in for a bad time tho srs

1 set of tires. Just drive slow, and it helps having 4wd/awd but front wheel drive is ok most of the time.

you just drive with caution brah

You can tell the road. Snow builds up different on the road vs grass so you have a outline
Plus eventually you get snow banks
Get lots of snow here but no snow tires. (maybe 2 out of 10 run them)
AWD or truck but snow tires help you stop/turn. AWD/4WD get you going

I have a truck but it isn't 4x4, my dad told me you gotta put salt blocks in the bed to weigh down the back for winter but idk

This. The road is warmer than the ground beside it because of the traffic driving on it, so the snow takes a little bit longer to accumulate on the pavement. Plus, people are out driving in it, so their tire tracks mark where to drive when you can't see the markings.

If you're on a residential street, you also have things like mailboxes and utility poles telling you where the edge of the road is.

Only super rural places let snow accumulate. Not difficult.

You can survive without any special consideration.

Fukkin LMAO no. I live in a large metro and snow accumulates all the time while they're treating roads and if it's light snow, they won't treat roads at all.

I had 2wd truck for years. One of the worst for driving on snow. Just get good tires, add some weight to the back, and drive slow. What state/city is this for?

Snowed so hard once when I was a kid they cancelled the busses and closed the highway when we were at school.

All the dads from my town rode the snowmobiles right down the center of the highway to school, picked us up and drove home.

It was about a 20 mile ride lol.

Idk yet. I am going to move to probably Illinois. Maybe missouri. Probably rural Illinois though. I am gonna hopefully go look for houses in the beginning of january.

Just buy a jeep, put on winter rated all terrains, never have to worry about snow.

imagine leaving florida

I used to drive a 90hp rwd Ranger in the winter. Putting weight in the bed helps give you some extra traction where you need it. But like others have indicated, the best equipment won't make a difference if you drive like a moron.

But if plows and salt trucks don't come through, you kind of just wing it and go from memory where the lanes are. Chances are you'll just be following someone else's tracks anyway. If you're driving on roads that generally not well traveled or have limited maintenance, just wait it out. You likely won't be needing to drive on those types of roads.

The place is hell and I can not do it anymore.

all season tire, deep tread depth, drive carefully, check the ratings on tire rack.

I had a 2wd ranger and it was fine with m/t tires
I had a 2wd dually pickup and it was terrible because it would float with all the tire contact

cliffs?

Pretty sure 90% of roads you’ll want to drive on in the north will be well taken care of.

As for backroads/neighborhoods that may not have been taken care of immediately just drive slow. You likely wouldn’t be speeding through these types of areas anyway so it’s not terribly different.

It’s way more hazardous driving in the south on the rare occasions snow happens because the roads aren’t treated and you end up with a bunch of ice mix

I've been here for 20 years. I cant do it anymore. Every day is hot and sunny. We get like a week in the winter where its down to the 50s at night. It was 80 degrees on christmas last year. After long enough time it makes you go insane every day being the same. The people here are terrible. idk what it is. After traveling around a bit and coming back it is like a reverse culture shock. It is depressing. The people are evil nasty people. There is no sense of community at all. Everybody is from somewhere else. The crime is getting really bad lately. I have an ex gf I have not seen or spoken to in over 11 years and the police for 3 months were coming to my house every other day and banging on the windows with pieces of metal. I never answered I didnt know what they wanted, I thought I got put on their predictive policing, intelligence led policing algorithm. They taped court papers saying I had to be at court the next day at 9am. No time for a haircut or lawyer or anything. This woman and her lawyer said I was stalking her going around in my truck following her around, she also said she got missed phone calls from an unknown number and said it was me. I never did any of these things. Now I have an injunction and all this woman has to do is fill out an affidavit form claiming she saw me somewhere and I will be arrested. I need to leave. The police gave her my private information from the DAVID system to fabricate this story. My license plate number and everything. 11 years ago this same person after I ended the relationship made fake reports and said I raped and attempted to murder her. When I was getting death threat voicemails, had a bucket of yellow paint and tires slashed on my 75 corvette, her father and brother came to my work and yelled at my manager telling her I was a rapist, etc, the police would not even take my report. But they went full swat mode on these fake stalking reports. When this lady slammed into the back of my truck while I was sitting at a stop light and drove away, she left her bumper on the side of the road. I had her license plate number. Police came and said it was a civil issue. Said there was no "proof" even though I had her bumper, license plate number, description of the lady. Guess hit and run is not a crime. Then they started with their intimidation questions thing "why are you so nervous shaky etc" , well I just had somebody slam into me. "You dont have any drugs or bombs in the truck do you, mind if we look", I do not consent. "okay step out for me", searched the truck with me sitting there, left all my tools on the ground and didnt even say free to go, just got in their cars and left. Fuk this place. The wages here are too low. I graduated welding school and had my aws 6g smaw cert. Could not get hired anywhere other than shipyard for $14/ hour, and iron workers union that wanted me to drive 2 hours each way to do scaffolding for 2 years with no per diem for $15/hr. Housing is too expensive. It is too crowded. I will never find a wife here. The women are psychotic all covered in tattoos and have been with too many men fornicating. They have terrible attitudes and are exhausting to be around. Girl boss bitch executive, or quirky BPD tattoo pot heads. It is too dangerous here. They found a severed head on the side of the road a block from my apartment and it was only in the news because they couldn't figure out who's head it was. They do not report the violent crime. You have to go on nextdoor app where the boomers post security cam footage and stories about what is going on. There have been 3 armed car jackings in my neighborhood in the last 6 weeks, etc. It is extremely dangerous to drive anywhere here. We have the 2nd highest car insurance in the country. In september 2017 when the hurricane was coming there was no food or water or gasoline for 7 days leading up to the storm. Even when the governor had state police escorting fuel trucks. People were hoarding gasoline filling up 5 gallon buckets with gas and shooting each other in the home depot parking lot over pieces of plywood. When I evacuated it took 12 hours to drive what should have taken 4 hours. I almost ran out of gas. The way people acted made me realize if something bad were to happen here it would be Katrina level of looting and violence x100. When the riots happened in tampa during june 2020 police did nothing while people arson attacked 55+ buildings, they were throwing pieces of concrete through car windshields off the I-4 and I-75 ramp. But they arrested a pastor for having church during the march-june 2020 lockdowns. The governor pretends like we never locked down. We did. I could not go to church or anything. The county fined individuals $300 for going places if they had more than 15 people inside. Then the governor said you cant do that so then the county fined businesses instead of individuals. They shut down the churches and everything they labeled non essential places. I know the whole country was like this so I might as well live somewhere outside a small town with no neighbors and be left alone and have a large garden and live peacefully and be able to own my own house and work from home if I can get rural internet, otherwise I will live inside a small town limits. I could go on and maybe one day I will sit down and do a story time video about my time here in florida if I am able to escape

I'm a lifelong resident of western New York so it's second nature to drive in heavy snow that accumulates quick. One inch per hour is common. Four wheel drive is a necessity for my work vehicle. Other vehicles are all wheel drive and have no problem 97% of winter

Read every single word...
You might look towards TX or OK if you wanna continue down the welding career path

There are some similarities between your hurricane panic and major winter storm in the midwest panic, albeit not nearly as extreme as you described
However the Walmarts and gas stations will be bombarded when a big snow/ice storm is forecasted to move thru the area
The roads are generally passable within 24hrs depending how rural you are and your biggest issue will likely be getting out of your driveway many times

Situation sounds like chit, Godspeed

Step 1: maintain your sh*tbox. no driving around on half bald tires. Any all-season tire will be fine. Only time you need two sets is if you drive a sports car with tires that are primarily engineered to be sticky in warmer, dry temps.

Step 2: don't drive like it's dry. be smooth with the throttle engagement and early and smooth with brake engagement.



It's too easy. It's the people that panic or drive 1/32 the speed limit that should have just stayed the fukk home who make it dangerous.

Love the videos of people in the south driving after a light dusting of snow

driving in the snow is a blast with good tires (srs) brb sliding around everywhere, and the roads are usually emptier

any beater FWD car with new all-seasons will perform fine in snow

Floor it and corner hard to dig into the snow and get grip

People that say 1 set of tires have never used dedicated winter tires

They’re game changers and worth the money if you can afford it. If you can’t, decent all seasons and very careful driving are all you got. Whatever drive time you think it will take to get somewhere, double it in the winter if the roads are questionable.

Source: northern Midwest driver for 18 years in every type of vehicle

People here just drive as fast as possible

whether or not you need two sets of tires, or should have two sets of tires, is down to where in the midwest you move. most of the midwest doesn't get THAT much show, and winter tires are really meant for freezing temps, which much of the midwest (like ohio, kentucky) will consistently be too warm for.

further north, most people still don't use a set of winter tires but honestly probably should. all-seasons are a compromise and are honestly nowhere near as good for snowy, cold conditions.

people are just dumb and think AWD > snow tires but it's the opposite, i'd rather drive a RWD sports car on snow tires than drive a huge AWD SUV on all-seasons if we're talking snowy blizzard conditions

also, people will be morons in the conditions you're talking about (just a little snow, but not enough to be plowed yet), so i stay off the roads often. there are TONS of accidents during that kind of weather because people do not realize how slick the roads are