What is your weather like right now?
- Thread starter texasgirl
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone that enjoys cooking.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
- Status
GotGarlic
Chef Extraordinaire
I don't think a few days of unusually cold weather is very significant. For all we know, it could be warmer than normal two weeks from now.
Is that your gas meter way over there? Is that what they do with gas meters nowadays? I haven't lived somewhere with gas since 1989.
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
Winter tires. I haven't bought winter tires since the advent of All Season radials decades ago. Of course, I don't live as far north as you. I've always been able to do OK with All Season tires and front wheel drive. My last car was rear wheel drive and that was an adventure in the snow.
A great deal depends on your tire brand. It has been my experience for some time that Bridgestone tires absolutely suck in wet/snow conditions. On my previous rear drive car, it was like magic when I replaced the Bridgestones that came on the car with Michelins. All of a sudden I had traction!
bethzaring
Master Chef
Yes, that is the gas meter on the right, and it is a new model
. I have never lived where natural gas was the predominant source of heat before.Yes, Pac, the sun is great, it has been cloudy since last Thursday.
I had new tires put on my car a few weeks ago and was asked if I wanted snow tires or all season tires. I'm thinking I should have learned more about what folks use here. I went for the all season, but have not driven in the snow yet. I really need to learn how to do that.
My all season tires and my winter tires are Swedish. The all seasons work OK in snow, but I would put winter tires, even if they weren't legally mandated in Quebec.
"The value of winter tires has been driven home by my own testing, consultation with experts and by statistics: in Quebec, where they have been mandatory since 2008, winter collisions have fallen by 17 per cent, and crashes causing serious injury or death are down 36 per cent"
From Fourteen reasons to ditch your all-season tires for the winter - The Globe and Mail
Something funny: The one time I hit black ice and fish tailed, I had rear wheel drive. The fact that the rear wheels were slowing as I worked to regain control of the car meant that they helped to straighten out the car.
Last edited:
I vote that you go buy some winter tires. They really make a difference in handling and stopping. See my post about them above.
To save wear and tear on my tires (from having them pulled off the wheels twice a year), I bought winter wheels. Because of a tip on the Brickboard (Volvo owners forum), I bought used alloy wheels for winter. They only cost a little more than new steel wheels, but they don't corrode and they weigh less. They also look nicer.
bethzaring
Master Chef
I vote that you go buy some winter tires. They really make a difference in handling and stopping. See my post about them above.
To save wear and tear on my tires (from having them pulled off the wheels twice a year), I bought winter wheels. Because of a tip on the Brickboard (Volvo owners forum), I bought used alloy wheels for winter. They only cost a little more than new steel wheels, but they don't corrode and they weigh less. They also look nicer.
Interesting, I'll look into this.
Salt is not used much on the roads here. I heard it was because of so much roadkill of large game animals coming out to eat the salt off the roads, but don't know if that is true. I do know that a red grit is mainly used, after plowing.
Andy M.
Certified Pretend Chef
As I mentioned earlier, we don't get as much snow as you. Also, I'm retired. I can stay home.
Rocket_J_Dawg
Sous Chef
Winter tires aren't just for snow and ice. They have better traction than all season tires as soon as the temperature drops to 7 C (44.6 F). According to this article: The great snow tire debate: Is changing your tires worth the time and cost?, "The tread on all-season tires starts to harden and lose its grip almost completely at zero degrees." (0 C = 32 F)
This article recommends that people in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, known for not getting much snow, get winter tires.
This article recommends that people in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia, known for not getting much snow, get winter tires.
Nope, never drove a Subaru; never been to Russia.
I was pleasantly surprised that time slowed down. I had always wondered how anyone could be expected to remember the instructions for what to do in a skid (ease off the gas; steer gently in the direction you want to go; don't touch the brakes) while skidding. I had plenty of time to remember and follow those instructions and they worked.
Nope, never drove a Subaru; never been to Russia.
I was pleasantly surprised that time slowed down. I had always wondered how anyone could be expected to remember the instructions for what to do in a skid (ease off the gas; steer gently in the direction you want to go; don't touch the brakes) while skidding. I had plenty of time to remember and follow those instructions and they worked.
Odd...I skid and it is all there automatically. I never worry about having to use the skill, it's just there.
Practice. I don't have to think about it now.
That incident I mentioned was my first experience with a big time fish-tailing event. If the car had fish-tailed any more than it did, I would have been spinning around. I was on a highway with freezing rain. There was no other traffic, but there was a truck in the ditch. I changed lanes, just in case I skidded, so I wouldn't end up on top of the truck. It was the salt truck.
So, I was changing lanes as I hit the black ice. I stayed calm until I had the car under control. Then, when I was driving at about 10 mph, I had the panic reaction. I finally got to a rest stop. I nearly fell on my arse when I got out of the car, it was so slippery.
GotGarlic
Chef Extraordinaire
I think that may be one of those things you sort of absorb from living in an area where snow and ice are common. You probably heard people talking about it and watched them handle it when you were growing up. Here in SE VA, snow is scarce and we often see people driving as if the weather was normal - sometimes they don't even slow down.
Practice. I don't have to think about it now.
That incident I mentioned was my first experience with a big time fish-tailing event. If the car had fish-tailed any more than it did, I would have been spinning around. I was on a highway with freezing rain. There was no other traffic, but there was a truck in the ditch. I changed lanes, just in case I skidded, so I wouldn't end up on top of the truck. It was the salt truck.
True, I've been riding/driving in snow since I was 6 years old. The most fun I had was my High School driving instructor taking us to a vacant, paved lot and letting us make the car skid and correcting it. I was never that good at making it skid.
There was a small learning curve when I started driving an all-wheel drive, the Subaru never skids...but then we haven't had any snow to speak of, either if the past couple of years.
CarolPa
Executive Chef
We got about 4 inches of snow overnight. Going to change to sleet/rain for a while then back to snow again tonight.
ackkk
Everyone here is getting ready for the big storm that's supposed to be rolling in.
Meanwhile, I'm all ready for a storm that is not coming...
- Status
Similar threads
