Colorado Residents: BEST Snow Drivers in USA

[Ray Eklund]

Do not believe it. Urban driving in snow in Colorado is mass chaos.

That is why many residents cross country and downhill ski. Otherwise everyone would stay home until the Colorado Department of Transportation scrapes every errant snowflake off the asphalt.

Much like backing up a trailer into a tight spot at a campsite, snow travel requires skill, as well.

Wyoming... Montana... much better. Fewer people. More 4x4's per capita. No lack of snow or wind.

Snow in Las Vegas... Phoenix... let the games begins after one inch, although infrequent, a little snow is a good reminder that Winter does exist in the Deserts.

Each kind of snow has its own disadvantages. Dry Powder and Wet Heavy Concrete require different driving techniques. Four wheel drive has one front and one rear 'traction' tire to depend on for moving forward. Those spin while the other tire is... resting.

Some vehicles you can 'lock all four' as the ultimate traction in mud, snow and... not ice. They are scarce and among the few traveling, no faster, behind those with bald tires and front wheel drive.

Missouri's ICE... New Years... makes Rocky Mountain snow a minor inconvenience. Western Kansas spring blizzards... refreshing, if you stay home.

Oklahoma... come out west and take a break this Winter. Anything is an improvement over tornadoes, ice storms and blizzards.

Although we all experience 'weather' every day of the year... some areas do require some skills to travel from point A to point B. Imagine a horse and buggy in the 19th Century. It is all relative.

Get caught pulling a Trailer in bad Winter/Spring snowy weather... WalMart can be your refuge from the elements. The parking lot may not be the most scenic, but you will not suffer from a lack of groceries. Goodland, Kansas near the Colorado - Kansas border is very popular to sit out the storm. Limon, Colorado... can be popular as well. When the truckers begin to pull out and head west or east... it is time to top off the fuel tank and get moving. Some do know what is going on, even if we do not.

[Dingo Girl]

What about Michigan Ray?
We have a rule here, if you can't drive in the snow get out and stay out.
Too bad so many refuse to adhere to this rule. That is why I believe we have some of the worst winter drivers on planet earth.

[Protagonist]

New Orleans: WORST snow drivers! December 23rd, 1989. 1/16th inch of snow— little enough that scraping up a whole front yard's worth only made one snowball— and there was a record number of vehicular accidents. The whole city shut down for two days. A neighbor of mine needed to get a cab to the airport to pick up his wife, who arrived just before the snow started. But no one could get a cab; they weren't running. Being a good Samaritan who grew up in Oklahoma and could drive in snow, I offered to give him a ride. Biggest mistake of my life. I got him there safely, by a convoluted circuitous route to avoid the myriad accidents blocking every major intersection, but it took SIX HOURS to drive twenty miles!

Funny thing, the trip home from the airport was much faster, only 45 minutes and fifteen miles, because by then all the idiots were off the road and the worst wrecks were mostly cleared away so I could take a slightly more direct route.

Sad thing, I've lived in New Orleans for so long now that I've forgotten everything I ever learned about driving in snow back in Oklahoma. Those particular brain cells are dead, dead, dead.

[Ray Eklund]

Originally Posted by Dingo Girl

What about Michigan Ray?
We have a rule here, if you can't drive in the snow get out and stay out.
Too bad so many refuse to adhere to this rule. That is why I believe we have some of the worst winter drivers on planet earth.

******
Winter in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota:
House
4x4 vehicle
Boat
Snowmobile

The State Highways have 'snow mobile routes' alongside.

The RV Parks in the desert southwest in Winter are full of:

Snowbirds from Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota
No House
4x4 tow vehicle
No Boat
No Snowmobile

When it is warm enough for Hummingbirds to return to the thawed Northern Latitudes you will find these Snowbirds following:

Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota
Canada

There is a pattern here. Nobody from Hawaii.

[Gearheart]

We do snow up here in the Great White North. 9 months of winter and 3 months of tough sledding.

[paiceman]

Actually some of the best if not the best drivers in snow live in and around Oswego NY. There due to lake effect snow storms, dumping up to 52" overnight the streets get plowed to what the residents consider drive able depths, say a foot or so. Snow piles up so high at intersections that one has to stop at the stop sign, inch out to the middle of the street to see around the piles.

Went to college there after the USAF and drove a taxi, an amazing place

[SeaLevel]

And here I thought driving in snow was just like riding a bike - once you learn how you never forget. Muscle memory takes over and you just know what to do. Maybe not. I got lots of practice when I did live in Colorado, but I don't get much practice anymore living down here.

[Dan and Liz]

Most CO residents are from Texas or California nowadays.Maybe this should say "natives."

[ghaynes755]

There are no 'good' snow drivers in the US. All are equally bad. As soon as they think they are good they slide off the road....

[eubank]

When we ran this place during ski season, it was always fun to try to help some poor flatlander whose diesel pusher would inevitably just slide straight forward even though the wheel was turned -- all of this taking place at a whopping 5 mph.

Lynn

[SSquared]

I grew up in Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula--Lake Superior on three sides. Where I was, we usually got only 20 or so feet of snow. But we got lots of experience driving on snow because snow was an almost-daily occurrence. Wrecks were not such a big problem because with all the accumulation, there was usually a nice snowbank to catch you when you screwed up.

One of the weather statistics reported in the paper was "consecutive snow days"--the number of days in a row where at least a trace of snow was officially recorded. The record was 52 days, hit once before I was born, and once after I left. Forty-nine days was the most while I was there.

Of course, after each streak was ended, a new one started. And back in the 30s, the town of South Range got snow on their 4th of July parade.