Brevard and surrounding area

[goldenlove]

Originally Posted by wcu25rs

ummm you dont have to live over 3000' to experience ice and snow. Also, snows are not a waste of money, at all and provide far superior traction and stability, especially braking, and that may be the most important aspect of snowy/icy driving.

I think QC's point was that there isn't much in the way of snow and ice below 3000 feet (I'd say 2500 feet) and around here, they clear and treat the roads really well. I came from Wake County. They do a terrible job there compared to here in Haywood/Buncombe Counties. Yes, there are some ice events like there were this past winter where the temperatures dropped unexpectedly (New Year's Eve), but even snow tires can't do much on a sheet of ice on pavement.

[QuilterChick]

Originally Posted by goldenlove

I think QC's point was that there isn't much in the way of snow and ice below 3000 feet (I'd say 2500 feet) and around here, they clear and treat the roads really well. I came from Wake County. They do a terrible job there compared to here in Haywood/Buncombe Counties. Yes, there are some ice events like there were this past winter where the temperatures dropped unexpectedly (New Year's Eve), but even snow tires can't do much on a sheet of ice on pavement.

Yes, GL, that is exactly right. We/I tend to use 'round' numbers when stating elevation; you just can't pinpoint at what actual elevation a house sits on, and the surrounding elevations, without the actual plot plot plan and engineered drawings of the site. I've been here approx. 14 yrs. and never needed snow tires. One house we had was at 2800' near Brevard and we had such a steep driveway we couldn't get the RV into the upper flat part (where there was a gorgeous RV garage. ) Had to store it. But we're not talking about RV's.

Try to get a driveway that is not in the shade. Or you'll be shoveling ice. Otherwise you can usually get out by noonish after the remnants of shoveling have melted.

I would say to anyone thinking of being at over 2500' to wait thru a winter and if you really need snow tires, get them when you will be using them more than once or twice a winter. I'm probably at 2200' elevation now for the past 6 yrs. and we had one snow here last year about 8"/10" and it was pretty much all melted by dinner time.

[wcu25rs]

I live at about 2200 and we got 1 snow at 14", 1 snow at 8" and a snow of 6", and a one ice event, and that's been somewhat the norm for the last few winters, give or take. My point was that you dont NEED snow tires(and I never said that) but to me, it's actually a small price point to pay for something that is far superior to other tires for winter driving. Ive driven Subarus for almost 15 years now, 75% with All Seasons and while they always did OK, after driving the last 4 winters with snows, I'll probably never drive in AS again in snow and ice because the difference in stability, traction, etc is absolutely night and day. You can literally get a set of steelies and snow tires for 500ish bucks, change them out in 30 minutes. I'm just saying, it was simply a suggestion from experience.