And people say southerners don't know how to drive in snow!

Velocity173 said:
That was this guy in the Ford truck. Went past the little white car at the bottom and they told him he wouldn’t make it. I watched him slide right into the other two vehicles. For sale sign on it too.
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Big ice storm here about 7-8 years ago and a coworker couldn't get his less than year old truck up a hill in his subdivision to the house. He parked it in what he thought was a safe place, off the road and out of the way, and hiked home. Went down mid morning of the next day to get it, and it had been hit 21 times overnight, based on the various paint colors on it. The only stuff not damaged on it were the license plates and all the glass. All but two of the airbags were fired and both drivers side tires were flat. Insurance totaled it for him the next day.
 
Craig said:
Big ice storm here about 7-8 years ago and a coworker couldn't get his less than year old truck up a hill in his subdivision to the house. He parked it in what he thought was a safe place, off the road and out of the way, and hiked home. Went down mid morning of the next day to get it, and it had been hit 21 times overnight, based on the various paint colors on it. The only stuff not damaged on it were the license plates and all the glass. All but two of the airbags were fired and both drivers side tires were flat. Insurance totaled it for him the next day.
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The wife's Caddy is currently sitting at the bottom of our driveway, perpendicular, as I just wanted her to get the car out of the street in case someone came down the hill tonight and lost control. Hopefully being on the driveway, even if just barely, should prevent any major catastrophes. Our road isn't highly traveled anyway, but there's no getting a RWD car on sport tires up our driveway covered in sleet/ice pellets. The incline is enough that even the 4x4 Excursion would probably have a tough time of it.
 
EdFred said:
Did no one attempt to put two tires off the pavement in order to get some traction?
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Nope. Saw some deflating their tires for better traction though. Guess that’s a thing.

I thought with new tires and AWD I’d be good…not so much. I was driving uphill passing this little gray Civic in the ditch and murmured something like “should have bought a Subaru.” Couldn’t have been more than two seconds after I said that my tires starting spinning. Everything was kind of a blur after that. Sliding backwards, threw it into neutral, applied brakes, still sliding, complete 180, barely missed the Civic and ended up 30 ft down from him in the ditch. Called it a day after that.

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Just spoke to one my daughters who took a family member to a local hospital. She said now she's going to turn around and get home ASAP. So getting off the phone I checked National Weather Service and got this (highlight mine). Snow is no big deal unless it's up to the axles. Ice to me is a very big deal, and a specialty of the 'border states', that perpetual wintertime band between snow and rain. I drove in that stuff many times growing up in TN, and then traveling there every year for holidays.

...ICE STORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS EVENING TO NOON CST WEDNESDAY... * WHAT...Significant icing expected. Ice accumulations of a quarter to one half an inch. * WHERE...Portions of East Arkansas, North Mississippi and West Tennessee. * WHEN...From 6 PM this evening to noon CST Wednesday. * IMPACTS...Power outages and tree damage are likely due to the ice. Travel could be nearly impossible. The hazardous conditions could impact the morning or evening commute.
 
mandm said:
Who are you kidding? The average folk drive around 85/90 these days.
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True, but even those morons don't drive like that in 50 ft visibility. They slow down to 70-80.
 
I grew up in the south occasionally driving in snow and ice. We always had 4-wheel drives so weren’t locked out of getting places. I was raised with the belief thatbsnow and ice were worse in the south. I spent the second half if my life in the mountains where snow and ice is a 6 month event. I would say the roads in the south are a little less maintained but we get the same conditions in the mountains and there are unmaintained roads with everything from hardpack, powder to sheet ice white and black. The main difference is people out here usually drive better cars, have better tires, and more experience about not getting into bad situations. But get the tourists out here and you have some wildcards to deal with. But all communities are becoming more blended.

This was Aspen Sunday on I-70. In a turn you might be tempted to track in the part that is gray and looks like road. That is not road. That is black ice. I stayed on the hard pack powder which is white. Way more traction. This rental AWD/4WD SUV had Goodyear mud and snow tires. Nice upgrade from what you typically get in a rental. But we did pass some pretty impressive slide offs.
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Snow or ice with snow melted/packed into it is really not hard to drive on once you get used to driving on it. The country roads I drove in MN would frequently be covered in that for 4 months out of the year or more. When you started seeing pavement, that meant spring was finally coming! Ice isn't so bad, as long as you can see it and plan for it. Patchy ice is funny, because you can accelerate on the pavement, and then just coast over the patches. It's easy if the road is straight, a little harder to navigate if the patch was in the banked curve of the road, but still not bad if you know it's coming. Ice you can't tell is there/black ice is the one thing that scares me and is the only thing I haven't successfully driven through.

Considering that a lot of the ice in the southern US is black ice, I can see why ice is a big deal down here.
 
Rockymountain said:
I grew up in the south occasionally driving in snow and ice. We always had 4-wheel drives so weren’t locked out of getting places. I was raised with the belief thatbsnow and ice were worse in the south. I spent the second half if my life in the mountains where snow and ice is a 6 month event. I would say the roads in the south are a little less maintained but we get the same conditions in the mountains and there are unmaintained roads with everything from hardpack, powder to sheet ice white and black. The main difference is people out here usually drive better cars, have better tires, and more experience about not getting into bad situations. But get the tourists out here and you have some wildcards to deal with. But all communities are becoming more blended.

This was Aspen Sunday on I-70. In a turn you might be tempted to track in the part that is gray and looks like road. That is not road. That is black ice. I stayed on the hard pack powder which is white. Way more traction. This rental AWD/4WD SUV had Goodyear mud and snow tires. Nice upgrade from what you typically get in a rental. But we did pass some pretty impressive slide offs.
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Nice Tahoe for a rental.
 
Be careful of these nice rentals. Wife and I went to Kansas City one time for Christmas. Of course it was snowing to beat hell. I was so proud that we got a Toyota FJ from Hertz I think it was. Heading south from the airport toward the city, in heavy traffic, the windshield got covered with slush so naturally I hit the windshield washer. Immediately the windshield glazed over completely opaque. There wasn’t enough deice to do the job. It was pucker time trying to get that thing over to the side of the road. Another preflight checklist item when you’re getting a rental vehicle.
 
Piperonca said:
Be careful of these nice rentals. Wife and I went to Kansas City one time for Christmas. Of course it was snowing to beat hell. I was so proud that we got a Toyota FJ from Hertz I think it was. Heading south from the airport toward the city, in heavy traffic, the windshield got covered with slush so naturally I hit the windshield washer. Immediately the windshield glazed over completely opaque. There wasn’t enough deice to do the job. It was pucker time trying to get that thing over to the side of the road. Another preflight checklist item when you’re getting a rental vehicle.
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That, and remembering to pack an ice scraper. I've never rented a car in snow country that came with even a basic .99 cent scraper. After scrambling to find a substitute a few mornings when the car was frosted over, I now remember to throw one in my carry on if I'm going to be renting somewhere cold.
 
Piperonca said:
Be careful of these nice rentals. Wife and I went to Kansas City one time for Christmas. Of course it was snowing to beat hell. I was so proud that we got a Toyota FJ from Hertz I think it was. Heading south from the airport toward the city, in heavy traffic, the windshield got covered with slush so naturally I hit the windshield washer. Immediately the windshield glazed over completely opaque. There wasn’t enough deice to do the job. It was pucker time trying to get that thing over to the side of the road. Another preflight checklist item when you’re getting a rental vehicle.
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Never know what you are going to get in a rental either. My wife and I flew up to MSP for a weekend and rented a Chevy Tahoe because we knew there was a snow event occurring and wanted 4wd. We were surprised when our rental Tahoe had Florida tags and 2wd. Needless to say it was less than great in the 5 inches of snow covering most parking lots and side streets.
 
GaryM said:
That, and remembering to pack an ice scraper. I've never rented a car in snow country that came with even a basic .99 cent scraper. After scrambling to find a substitute a few mornings when the car was frosted over, I now remember to throw one in my carry on if I'm going to be renting somewhere cold.
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All the rentals I had in the Buffalo area has scrapers... decent ones.

Of course, it's been quite a few years since I've been to the Buffalo area.
 
Piperonca said:
Be careful of these nice rentals. Wife and I went to Kansas City one time for Christmas. Of course it was snowing to beat hell. I was so proud that we got a Toyota FJ from Hertz I think it was. Heading south from the airport toward the city, in heavy traffic, the windshield got covered with slush so naturally I hit the windshield washer. Immediately the windshield glazed over completely opaque. There wasn’t enough deice to do the job. It was pucker time trying to get that thing over to the side of the road. Another preflight checklist item when you’re getting a rental vehicle.
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Every rental from National in DC, PA, CO, WY, MN, SD, or Canada came with a wooden scraper/brush in the backseat floorboard during the snowy seasons. I only recall using it once or twice, but I knew better than to rely on the windshield washer fluid, lol. Gas stations were about the only time I cleaned the windows off.
 
Our winter storm warning got extended til Thursday, a couple of hours ago. Lots more ice coming. Another night at home for sure. With things at a standstill at work for an indeterminate period, no reason to bust my tail to get in with these conditions.
 
Company finally decided to close all DFW facilities for 2nd and 3rd shift tonight and maybe for 1st tomorrow. Guess they figured out that after three solid days of increasing ice, that employees would rather be home safe than facing the commute dangers and problems to get to work.
 
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