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I was just wondering about the climate in the Northeast and Midwest. Basically, I've come to realize that I don't hate cold weather, but I hate ice storms, etc. that they can bring. When it snows up in these areas, is it typically powdery snow, or does it still get icy? I worry about having to drive in the ice and hate sliding around on black ice on walkways, so that's why I'm asking.
When it snows up in these areas, is it typically powdery snow, or does it still get icy? I worry about having to drive in the ice and hate sliding around on black ice on walkways, so that's why I'm asking.
It's hard to answer that, because it depends on the time of year, the temperature, and other factors.
Here in Minnesota, we can get anything from rain, freezing rain, sleet, wet snow, or powdery snow in the winter months. December–February, 99.9% of any precipitation will fall as snow, and it's often the powdery kind that comes from an Alberta Clipper (usually no more than a few inches of powder). Every once in a while a storm will blow in from the Pacific or the Gulf of Mexico and bring with it warmer temps and wet snow. In late fall or early spring if a cold front brings snow, it will usually be wet and heavy. Freezing rain is more rare, and we don't normally see the kind that brings down trees and power lines like the Northeast gets. Very rarely, we get freak thaws in the middle of winter, and we might even see just plain rain.
All of that being said, even with powdery snow, driving will be slow-going. However, in Minnesota we generally have more and better equipment for snow removal and deicing than most of the rest of the country, so wintry weather really isn't an issue until we get snowfalls over a foot.
Last month we had a storm that dumped only about 10 or so inches of snow, but it crippled traffic for days because it started as rain, then flash-froze when temps quickly plunged to near zero before the wet snow could be removed (and salt stops working below 20ºF). Other times, we can get 15 inches or more, and it won't be that big of a deal because it's powdery and easy to clear.
As you can see, it totally depends on the circumstances how driving and traffic is affected. There's no such thing as a "typical" snowfall.
I was just wondering about the climate in the Northeast and Midwest. Basically, I've come to realize that I don't hate cold weather, but I hate ice storms, etc. that they can bring. When it snows up in these areas, is it typically powdery snow, or does it still get icy? I worry about having to drive in the ice and hate sliding around on black ice on walkways, so that's why I'm asking.
Thanks!
You're going to slide either way, it won't make a difference. Snow, in either powdery or icy form, reduces the amount of traction you have because it's gets into the groves of your tires/shoes. Although, imo, it is easier to manage on snow than it is on ice.
I agree that it will depend on factors like temps, the type of snow(lake effect vs a Nor'easter) and in the manner the snow/ice is taken care of. Where I live gets a lot of snow, but it is usually taken care of in a timely manner.
Also, the type of tires are key and can make a difference. Laws in relation to shoveling sidewalks and if residents or the municipality do so may also come into play.
I live in SE Michigan. We occasionally get freezing rain here, but mainly only when winter starts transitioning into spring, and not even all that often then. Our snow is usually one of two varities: light and powdery, which is much easier to shovel, and heavy and wet. We honestly don't get all that much snow here, because we don't get the lake effect snow that plagues western Michigan, the Cleveland area, and western Upstate New York. (essentially snow that picks up moisture as it blows across a huge body of water and then dumps inches and inches on the first land area that it comes to).
Really, though, I am impressed, and especially this winter, with how well our local municipalities and state agencies do with snow removal. If we get 4-6 in. of snow, for example, the roads are salted, plowed, and passable almost immediately. It is actually easier to live here and get more snow than to live somewhere like Atlanta or Charlotte and get two inches, because they are never prepared for it. What we consider to be a light dusting will paralyze those cities for a day or more, as we also saw this winter. Even Kentucky can't seem to handle what they get, and they aren't even that far south. My dh and I passed through Kentucky about a month ago on our way back from Florida and it was unreal. They got two inches of snow one day and every school in every county was closed, the University of Kentucky was closed, and the state legislature was even closed! Also, there was a layer of snow on much of I-75 which made it kind of treacherous, since people were still attempting to drive 70 mph. Here in Michigan, we virtually never have to drive on top of snow on an interstate like I-75 unless the snow is still actively falling and the plows haven't quite caught up with it yet, but that is rare, because our roads are so well salted before the snow comes.
Ice storms seem to be much more of a problem in states that are sort of borderline between the northern climate and the southern climate, such as Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina, where daytime temps are warm enough that any precipitation falls as rain instead of snow but then the temps drop in the evening and all that rain turns to ice.
I'd second that here in Minneapolis we typically get light powdery snow. When I lived in Kentucky ice storms, and freezing rain were fairly common, you would also see the wet heavier "widow maker" snow more often too.
I live in the Denver area, and we don't get ice storms either. I've seen freezing rain here exactly once in 7 years, and all it did was make the scraping of the windshield more complicated.
Our snow is usually powder, with wetter stuff usually coming with the warmer snows later in the season.
Driving in your average snowstorm usually sucks, with or without a sheet of ice coating the roads. Snow piling up on the road during the storm is just as dangerous/nerve wracking, especially in heavy traffic. Plows aren't instantaneous, they don't cover every road, and only make the road slightly safer than one with snow on it (they are still slippery/unpredictable, in general).
That being said, it is quite possible to adjust to. I only slipped/fell my first winter here (Southern CA native), I learned how to walk on/around snow/ice after that. Every other So. Cal native that has moved here with me also only slipped/fell their first winters here as well.
That being said, it's 62F and sunny here right now. We can still get snow for about another 5 weeks.
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