Snow Wisdom

Hello!

So my husband and I just moved to an area that apparently gets a lot of snow in the winter and I'm looking to get some wisdom from folks who are familiar with living with snow. We're both from west of the Cascades where it might snow once if at all in a year and even then only a few inches, so this is something new for us. We walked over and said hi to one of our new neighbors and the first words out of his mouth were "do you guys like snow?" He recommended getting a snow blower and a snowmobile as well as a sledgehammer and a ladder to bust chunks of ice off of our roof (is that normal?).

What are some essentials you absolutely can't live without and what are some items that you love to have even if they're not essential in areas that get a lot of snow? Apparently we will get snowed in for parts of the winter and the highway closes. Do you have any crazy living in snowy area stories?

Thanks!

Hi Hallie;
I'm afraid your neighbor has hit the nail on the head.
Snowblower, snowmobile, shovels, gloves, a full snowsuit, chain saw for firewood or blowdowns, a Subaru to get you down to Boise (I'm guessing you're up in the Macall area?)
The ladder and sledgehammer job you might hire out unless you are young and spry.

Depending on your attitude living in deep snow can be a fun time or it can be scary and depressing.
Try it out this winter you might just like it!

Hi Hallie,

I agree with everything that Thomas already said.  To that I would add plenty of fuel for the snowblower and snowmobile.  Also, you might want a generator as when you get all that snow will be the time the power goes out.  You will need extra fuel for that as well.  I also recommend keeping a battery powered radio and plenty of batteries around.  If you feel really ambitious, one of those little battery generators could be very handy but it won’t replace a generator unless you spend a bundle.  Maybe think about a little camp stove to cook a few items.

Power needs aside, I suggest investing in some high quality winter gear—blankets & sleeping bags, warm clothes and good quality long underwear.  Also, don’t forget good socks, snow boots and gloves.

Preparation is key here.

Good luck!

Eric

While I have not tried this, some Snow Wisdom is that ashes will melt snow or at least I have read that it does.

Congratulations on your new adventure.

Hi, Hal! I'm not in the rockies, but spent most of my life around the Great Lakes, so I have more than my share of snow experience. Thomas hit the nail on the head. I'd recommend back-up plans, and back-up plans for when the back-up plans fall - because eventually, they will. Shovels, cat litter &/or salt (for creating traction), water and food, a fire source, blankets, a change of clothing, extra gloves, socks, hats... all are wise to keep in the cars, trucks, etc, just in case. Also, don't depend on your own good driving to keep you safe, on the snowy roads - prepare for the other person to not know how to drive in bad conditions, and possibly take your vehicle out, along with theirs. I've always kept enough emergency stuff in the car to share, if need be.

I'd also recommend getting used to dressing in layers. Being cold is not your friend - but neither is getting sweaty, because then you'll want to take off too much, and you'll get cold - dangerously fast. Dressed in several light layers rather than one or two thick layers allows you to add or remove some, as needed, to keep your body temps on an even keel, keeping hypothermia at bay.

Anne is correct - I've used ashes very effectively to melt ice and snow, many times.

I have never lived anywhere with out snow, and I think it would make me very sad if I did. I don’t disagree with anything the previous posters have said, but as I read through them I got the feeling that they could send a person into momentary panic and an impulsive buying streak. I would say planning ahead of time for snow removal is important, but there is nothing wrong with taking a low cost, low risk approach, especially for your first year. More important than the stuff is the attitude. Go into it with an attitude that’s determined not to miss out on the joy snow and winter have to offer you, and you won’t be disappointed. We got more snow last winter than I have ever experienced. We are new to this area and have not yet bought a snow blower. Each time it snowed I prepped myself with a good breakfast and a cozy cup of coffee while I waited for it to get light out. Then I dressed up in my cozy winter clothes and spent the rest of the morning shoveling the driveway. That said, I have the privilege of staying home, and we have a short driveway. But my point is, you may not know what you need and what you don’t until you experience a winter, so don’t go crazy buying things. Sometimes people like to tell new comers how unprepared they are. And sometimes they are right. But don’t let it make you think that the only way to enjoy winter is with a garage full of tools and supplies. You will see what’s worth it for you and what’s not, and I doubt you will die in the process. Even if you are unprepared.

A good breakfast and hot cup of coffee will go a long way on a snowy morning.

We just got a "old school" 4-5 foot storm last year after 10+ years of very mild winters. Saw a lot of the new folks have a hard time. My best tips are mostly already listed above but I like to beat stuff to death so here goes:


A way to get out if you have to. Be it a snow machine, snowshoes, 4WD truck with chains, or whatever. Being honest to God stuck is how people end up suffering.  The answer might be that you have that iron will and are gonna walk out. That is fine too, if it is an honest proven assessment. I met a retirement aged lady that was walking 12 miles a day to feed her daughters horses everyday, (Because her daughter couldn't hack it and ran for the valley...)

Firewood. I would be very leery to not have ready to burn wood and a wood stove. Everything else can break. Not the law of thermodynamics though! Know how to maintain your fireplace.

Chainsaw. Gas powered (how you gonna charge that silly thing, DAVE?) This goes with getting out. IT was locals that cleared the 200+ trees between my house and town in the last storm, not the guv. According to my son's friend "an army of rednecks" cleared their road out. You could be one of them! Chainsaws can't just be left to rot or they won't run when you need 'em. Run it once in a while, fill with fresh gas every winter even if you don't use it.

Water. People run out of water during snow storms.

Get a better shovel.  I broke mine, it sucked.

Generators are nice too! Although the power company just sent me a $101 dollar check for the month the power was out. So that's nice.

Good ladder, you will probably need to get up on your roof in the snow for some reason. Me it's cause my house is old and the 4 feet I had up there was very worrying. In fact we had a lot of (mostly commercial, thank God) building collapses here last winter.

A good attitude I'm telling you, the amount of people melting down here because we got snow in the mountains, in the winter, was very personally upsetting. Walk around and check on neighbors, make friends, share some whiskey.

You may find this thread helpful.

https://permies.com/t/102547/ve-learned-snow-removal

Ok, I thought I would summarize a list based on suggestions made here.  I would make it look like the following:

1). Have a good attitude! (Thanks Eloise).  Personally I love snow and it does make me a little bit sad that I don’t get all that much.

2).  Good clothing, hats-boots-gloves, snowsuit or carharts, blankets & sleeping bags.  I try to avoid cotton where possible in this category as cotton really soaks up water/sweat and then turns to a cold, clammy layer.  For natural fibers, wool and silk are excellent fabrics that insulate well without soaking.  Carla make an excellent point about dressing in layers.

3). Transportation.  A Subaru or similar might well be a good investment.  A snowmobile might also be a good idea.  Of course, these are more expensive purchases and you have to balance their value against your own savings.  What type of vehicle do you own at present?

4).  Tools.  Get a good snow shovel or two for certain.  For deep snow I like having an aluminum grain scoop style shovel as it will lift out a large volume of snow.  Maybe a snowblower is worth it?  It will certainly make moving larger quantities of snow easier, but it will also require fuel—maybe keep a minimum of 5 gallons for the snowblower alone?  Honestly I don’t know how long your driveway is or how often you need to get out.  The ladder and sledgehammer are good ideas but I would have these anyway.

5). Power and communication.  Since the power will go out, do you have a plan to get by without the electrical company?  A generator could be nice, but again it will require fuel—for how long I just don’t know.  I would keep the radio and lots of batteries.  One little trick I have for a power outage comes from my batteries for my power tools.  I have a little inverter that slides on top of the battery and can give 175 watts of power & power a couple of USB devices.  Since my batteries are always charged, in an emergency I always have at least enough power to charge my phone.

I am going to add fuel in this category as well.  Obviously if you have a snowmobile, generator, snowblower, etc. you will need gas.  Maybe keep 4-5 5 gallon cans of gas on hand?  Also, if you heat with wood, you will want some ready-to-burn wood available.  

Last point that has not been mentioned yet: food.  Make certain that you have canned or other non-perishable food available for an extended time period.

I could really go on and on but I will try to bring things to an end here.  Eloise made a good point that all these suggestions could spur a buying binge.  I would say that many of the items you will need are items you should have on hand anyway.

Good luck!

Eric

One more thing comes to mind. Blankets. My wife and I just bought a bunch of heavy blankets and comforters from the thrift store (which is now pretty expensive, what the crap?). Because, if all else fails at least you can stay inside, wrap up in 3-7 blankets and wait for help. Plus when the power is out at my place the heat from the stove doesn't really get back to our bedroom. Normally we run a box fan in the evenings to solve this.

I'm in snow country. No matter what vehicle you drive, there is no substitute for winter tires. None.

We have a set for each vehicle on separate rims, so they're easy to install (or have installed) in late fall and swap with all-seasons in spring. The winter tires have a softer rubber compound that stays flexible when it's cold, so they grip well.

Forget "all weather" tires. They fail miserably in icy conditions.

P.S., Our auto insurance company gives us a discount because we have winter tires.

Thank you all for all the super helpful responses!

I have a followup question and maybe there's a thread that exists somewhere that someone could point me to. What do you do with animals in the winter when it's really snowy? We left our chickens behind in Oregon but we're planning on getting some new chickens and re-creating our setup with the mobile coop with the chicken wire floor so the poop falls through. Will the chickens be warm enough in a coop like that? I know that we have some neighbors that keep chickens but I have not yet asked them what they do during the winter. And if the chickens are fine in the snow how much space do I need to dig out for them to roam around? Or do they need to go inside like a barn to ride out the winter (would prefer not to have to scoop poop).

https://abundantpermaculture.com/Mobile-chicken-coop/

Hal Schmidt wrote:TWill the chickens be warm enough in a coop like that?  

Probably not -- and it is a lot of work. If you have a greenhouse (hoop house), you can park/move the mobile coop around inside -- or, as Joel Salatin does, just put the chickens in the greenhouse with some table roosts, nesting boxes, food, and water. They will be very happy. If you get the supplies off the ground and put a couple of smaller pigs in with them, you won't have to poop-scoop. Or, just fill first with deep bedding (wood chips, sawdust, etc.) -- and have lovely manure mulch in the spring.

There are some nice pictures on Walter Jeffries's site: Sugar Mountain Farm (when it goes back up), with picture of a very simple, small chicken greenhouse (on the next year's garden site). There are lots of options and variations!

My chickens don't travel into deep snow (make very funny tracks!) -- but if you sprinkle hay (or keep them with pigs), they'll go out along the pathways.

I hope this helps.

One thing not mentioned yet is to consider where you want to put all the snow.  

In the high desert, that’s precious water.  Crazy to stack it by the creek so it goes straight in!  

You might need to melt ice at times, but I just hate to use salt or proprietary products you’re not quite sure what they’re made of.

I push, shovel, blow the snow onto garden space.  It’s great insulation, keeps roots and soil from the freeze thaw cycle of bare earth and drying out.

On my pathways, I would rather put wood chips down to prevent ice forming… or letting them freeze right into the ice for texture.  Sometimes removing some of the snow first.

And it’s a lot easier to shovel snow BEFORE it has been walked or driven on!

About that attitude suggestion, what gets me the farthest is curiosity:  What’s this going to be like?  What will happen?, what will I learn?

I had a shed roof on the north side of the house.  The snow fell and stacked up into a berm of snow, icicles and ice, directly beneath where water dripped on melting days.  The peak of the berm separated the liquid water, some flowed away from the house, north and down hill.  The other half flowed towards the house, to the basement wall and up against the foundation.  The result was a lot of water in the basement.  I used cat litter (bentonite I scented) to absorb the water, to keep it out of the center of the floor put pallets down to keep everything up out of the water.  I never let that berm form again, did some earthwork to get water draining away from the house, and make it easier to pull the ice and snow that fell from the roof on down the slope away from the house.

It was a hundred year old house, a sound structure, but some of the work done through the years was not well thought out!

Good idea to stock up, and ask for suggestions, that’s only wise, but every winter is different.

Which reminds me, I returned to snow country after 15 years away.  It was warm that fall.   I had no sense of urgency.  Just took my time.  Winter arrived before I was ready.  It snowed big, and things I had not put away- and I don’t even remember what they were, but they were frozen in place and I had to look at them all winter.  I never did that again 🤣🤣🤣. (Humor is helpful too)

And on the subject of winter preparedness- there have been years when I grew a LOT of tomatoes, and I did not wait for the afternoon of the first predicted frost.  I started carrying in boxes of tomatoes weeks ahead of time, so that when frost was upon me, I didn’t have more than I could handle.

Just have fun with it once you have prepared, and every year you’ll improve on your adaptations of the year before!

Hal Schmidt wrote:Hello!

So my husband and I just moved to an area that apparently gets a lot of snow in the winter and I'm looking to get some wisdom from folks who are familiar with living with snow. We're both from west of the Cascades where it might snow once if at all in a year and even then only a few inches, so this is something new for us. We walked over and said hi to one of our new neighbors and the first words out of his mouth were "do you guys like snow?" He recommended getting a snow blower and a snowmobile as well as a sledgehammer and a ladder to bust chunks of ice off of our roof (is that normal?).

What are some essentials you absolutely can't live without and what are some items that you love to have even if they're not essential in areas that get a lot of snow? Apparently we will get snowed in for parts of the winter and the highway closes. Do you have any crazy living in snowy area stories?

Thanks!

Im from Michigans upper peninsula. Grew up on Lake Superior getting loads of snow. Here’s some tips:

Dont bust ice off your roof. You’ll likely damage shingles or the roof itself in the process. If you have ice buildup you have heat loss and/or poor attic ventilation. Insulate more and add ventilation.

Get yourself a couple good snow scoops a couple good smaller shovels. And an ice chopper.

Ice cleats or something similar for your footwear is a good idea. And salt for sidewalks and other icy, commonly traveled areas.

Buckets of sand are good to have around for traction if you get stuck.

You’ll want a good snowblower or plow. Or several phone numbers to people who move snow. Youll need multiple because they will all be busy at the same time.

We used to shovel my parents roof maybe 3 times each winter with shovels and scoops. Now I bought a Minnsnowta Roof Razor and highly recommend it. And when you clear the snow off your roof, dont go all the way down to the shingles, leave an inch or two if possible. And wherever that snow lands, it will compact into damn near concrete pretty quickly, so once its off the roof, get it out of the way. If you have a metal roof, beware of it unloading randomly or especially when the sun is out and it warms a bit.

You’ll want an ice scraper for your vehicles and also a kit with things like hand warmers, tow strap and maybe some sort of traction device would be a good idea.

Lift with your legs and try not to hurt yourself moving snow. And keep in mind warm snow is much heavier than a cold snow.

If you plow, make sure the banks start out obnoxiously far back because you’ll need room to keep adding to them. And also beware if you plow a wet, heavy snow and it’s supposed to get cold the next day or two, those snowbanks will set up like a brick wall. You wont move them again until they warm back up.

Make sure your stink pipe, chimney and whatever other stuff that sticks out of your roof doesnt get buried. And beware of those things when clearing the snow off your roof. And if you have a furnace that vents out the side of your foundation, also make sure that doesn’t get buried.

Good luck! Remember it’s temporary and try to enjoy the beauty and tranquility… or raging winds and sideways snow😆

Hal Schmidt wrote:Thank you all for all the super helpful responses!

I have a followup question and maybe there's a thread that exists somewhere that someone could point me to. What do you do with animals in the winter when it's really snowy? We left our chickens behind in Oregon but we're planning on getting some new chickens and re-creating our setup with the mobile coop with the chicken wire floor so the poop falls through. Will the chickens be warm enough in a coop like that? I know that we have some neighbors that keep chickens but I have not yet asked them what they do during the winter. And if the chickens are fine in the snow how much space do I need to dig out for them to roam around? Or do they need to go inside like a barn to ride out the winter (would prefer not to have to scoop poop).

https://abundantpermaculture.com/Mobile-chicken-coop/

I made a mobile coop with a 1/2” hardware cloth floor for the poop to fall through. I’ll attach some pictures if i can find them.

It worked as planned until the chickens got old enough to lay eggs. After that, there was no chance any of their poops would fit through the floor anymore and just made a mess. So I covered it with cardboard and its been that way since. Chicken wire would probably work better but also a weasel could slip right in easily. Our mobile coop was great in summer but topped out at 8 chickens and was a nightmare in winter. I could not get it set up in a way to avoid frostbite on the chickens and finally had to build a new coop. Still use the mobile one for brooding and whatnot.

As for winterizing your coop:

you’ll want draft free but plenty of ventilation to prevent frostbite. Its moisture and breeze that make frostbite. They can handle a dry cold pretty well. We get -30f here and even without heat they do well as long as they can stay out of wind.

Deep bedding is helpful for them too.

Collect eggs twice a day to prevent them freezing

A heated nipple waterer is the best choice in my opinion

Give them some windbreaks

In our experience, chickens wont wander through snow. I shovel around the coop and lay out straw, hay, leaves or pine needles for them. They happily walk around on any of that stuff but if its just bare snow, they stand on one leg and dont move.

Heat is not necessary inside a coop. Heat lamps are dangerous and other forms of heat can make them dependent so when the power goes out they can die quickly. Or they will get spoiled and never go outside.

You can run a light inside the coop to boost egg production, but they will lay for fewer years if you do. Otherwise, let their bodies naturally take a break from laying and they’ll get back at it in spring.

Some great ideas have been posted. I would add fire extinguishers, first aide supplies, and water.   If you can’t get out, emergency vehicles can’t get in.

About the chickens, give them wooden roosts, not metal, and I’m a strong believer that the irregularity of tree branches is preferable to the uniform diameter of dowels or closet pole material.

I like that this thread got revived and I thought about another piece of "Snow Wisdom" that I would pass along.  This might just be the most important piece of Snow Wisdom that I could offer--learn to drive on snow and ice if you don't already know how to do so.  A 4WD vehicle will be useless on snow unless one understands how to drive on snow in the first place.  If you don't already know how to drive on snow, here are some tips:

1)  Do everything slower.  This means accelerate slower, don't get up to normal full speed and brake slowly--very slowly.  Most snow accidents are caused by a person hitting the brakes much, much too quickly and skidding off the road or into another vehicle.

2)  Related to the first point, just accept that most chores done by driving will take more time that usual.  Don't be in a hurry.  The new normal for driving on snow is to drive half the regular speed or slower.

3)  Turn the steering wheel gently.  Just like slipping and skidding on ice by excessive braking will cause one to loose control, so will steering too aggressively.  Again, it is best to do this slowly.

4)  If you do get stuck, don't step on the gas to get out.  Stepping on the gas quickly will only cause the tires to spin uselessly.  All too often I have seen people stuck in the snow who think that if the car/truck is not moving it is because they have not given the engine enough gas.  These people will spin up rooster tails and fling snow a great distance but the car will go nowhere.  Again, slow, gentle acceleration is best.

I grew up driving on snow and ice so it come naturally to me.  But I live in an area that sees little winter weather.  When it does snow to a significant degree, there are ALWAYS a lot of accidents as people forget how to drive on the slippery surface.  I know that I sound like a broken record, but the one thing these people have in common was trying to go too fast or more likely, stop too quickly.

Good luck,

Eric

I'd like to add my two cents as it has not been broached... check to ensure your heating system is ready to go.. no matter what it is, think of preparing that one item first.. will it heat the whole home with no power? Are there multiple backups? Do you only use wood? Is there enough to use as a primary instead only as only as a pretty ambiance occasionally? Is it a geothermal? They have a separate 200amp system usually which I would think would render it useless unless you have lots of backup petrol for that alone.

How volunerable are your water lines? Are they insulated or heated? Are they wrapped with heat tape? Does it need replacing?

Just off the top of my noggin...

I just read Eric’s post.  When I lived in Northern MN I had a 30 mile drive I had to make on snow packed/icky roads.   It was back in the early 80s, so my memory may be a little off.  I was driving around 45 mph or so ….that I felt at the time might be a little too fast.   I was passed by about 10 cars on that trip. Before I made it to my destination, I ended up seeing all 10 cars again …. in a ditch.  …. Yes, 100% ended up in a ditch.  Reduce your speed.

During that same period of time and old timer told me to never buy a 4 wheel drive vehicle…..all it would accomplish is to get me stuck in some place I couldn’t be towed out of.    Now, I don’t think his message was intended to be anti 4 wheel drive ….anyway, I heard  “ don’t do dumb things”.  Always consider the possible consequences of risk taking.

Also learn the characteristics of each road.   Short- cuts can kill in the winter.  For whatever reason, some roads are simply easier to be stuck on/ slide on than others.  Find out what roads should be avoided.  Along these same lines, honor “road closed” signs.  It is amazing the number of people who lose their vehicles after ignoring such a sign.  

In some parts of the north country it is accepted practice to drive across frozen lakes.  I never did.  And, I was never on the evening news for losing my vehicle after it fell through the ice.

Eric Hanson wrote:I like that this thread got revived and I thought about another piece of "Snow Wisdom" that I would pass along.  This might just be the most important piece of Snow Wisdom that I could offer--learn to drive on snow and ice if you don't already know how to do so.  A 4WD vehicle will be useless on snow unless one understands how to drive on snow in the first place.  If you don't already know how to drive on snow, here are some tips:

1)  Do everything slower.  This means accelerate slower, don't get up to normal full speed and brake slowly--very slowly.  Most snow accidents are caused by a person hitting the brakes much, much too quickly and skidding off the road or into another vehicle.

2)  Related to the first point, just accept that most chores done by driving will take more time that usual.  Don't be in a hurry.  The new normal for driving on snow is to drive half the regular speed or slower.

3)  Turn the steering wheel gently.  Just like slipping and skidding on ice by excessive braking will cause one to loose control, so will steering too aggressively.  Again, it is best to do this slowly.

4)  If you do get stuck, don't step on the gas to get out.  Stepping on the gas quickly will only cause the tires to spin uselessly.  All too often I have seen people stuck in the snow who think that if the car/truck is not moving it is because they have not given the engine enough gas.  These people will spin up rooster tails and fling snow a great distance but the car will go nowhere.  Again, slow, gentle acceleration is best.

I grew up driving on snow and ice so it come naturally to me.  But I live in an area that sees little winter weather.  When it does snow to a significant degree, there are ALWAYS a lot of accidents as people forget how to drive on the slippery surface.  I know that I sound like a broken record, but the one thing these people have in common was trying to go too fast or more likely, stop too quickly.

Good luck,

Eric

Good advice Eric! Also on the point of giving it gas when you’re stuck on snow: your tires spinning quickly on snow can turn it into ice and make you even worse off.

Another thing to keep in mind is the snow conditions itself. If you have a 4wd truck, you can often creep around through most snow. But occasionally the snow turns into a powdered sugar consistency, usually this happens later in the season for us, and when that happens you basically have no traction. There might be a foot of good snow on top of a layer of crust, on top of a layer of powdered sugar. If you bust through that crust, you arent moving anymore!

Another thing to keep in mind is like how driving in fog with your brights on makes it worse, the same goes for heavy snow. You’re almost better with fog lights or just your dims. And in very low visibility, try to use reflectors on the roadside and “rumble strips” if they’re on the road. But be aware that when you hit the strips, you dont really know if you’re on the center line or the side line, you just know you are leaving your lane.

Most places, at least around here, that get heavy snow have reflectors and rumble strips.

Also, if you literally cant drive because of visibility, DO NOT stop in the road or pull over. You will get rear ended. Keep plugging along very slowly with your flashers on. If you abandon your vehicle and try walking you may get run over.

I use to recommend tire chains. Tire chains are good, but I almost never put them on anymore. Lowering your tire pressure to about 12-15psi will give you way better traction and flotation in snow.

All this about driving is good!

My rule of thumb for driving on snowy roads:  I pretend I have almost no steering and almost no brakes.

Every change can only be a slight adjustment, and keep my speed within the limits of my steering and braking abilities.

Snow season has arrived in some places, and is fast approaching in other. This is a great thread to review. I hadn't heard the trick about underinflated tires before, although we'd have to test it in "wet coast snow".

People first say, "it never snows where you live". Then they say, "it's only a few inches. We won't have any trouble!" Then they land in the ditch... sigh... For anyone who needs to drive in Wet Coast Snow, it's not like the rest of Canada. It usually rains before, during, and after the snowfall, so the snow is as heavy as lead, and gets almost instantly icy. It packs into the grooves in your tires, reducing your grip even more.

Whatever snow you need to drive in, please everyone, drive extra cautiously and stay alive!

I had a new snow driving experience today.  4 inches of wet snow on my unplowed driveway.

I put the pickup in 4 wheel drive on the way out… easy as pie, in fact so easy that on my return I didn’t even think about 4 wheel drive, and got a chance to discover what a difference it makes.

I could not turn around in the virtually level driveway.

Good tires are a must!  I prefer studded tires, but the pickup i recently bought came with good tires that rely on tread instead of studded tires… So I only had treaded tires which as Jay said can get the tread packed with wet snow and become virtually bald!

Thekla, thanks for bringing up this thread again.  It is interesting to note that so much advice about living in snow country has to do with driving.  Perhaps this is appropriate as being well and truly snowed in and trapped is fairly rare but having to travel on less-than-ideal road conditions is quite common.

I wanted to relay an experience of mine from when I was in college, but first some background.  Both of my parents were born and raised in Minnesota and didn’t leave the state till they graduated college, got married and moved into the mountains of Colorado.  Eventually they moved to Central Illinois for my father’s work, but they never lost the snow preparedness attitude.  As soon as I could drive, they insisted that I always keep a winter kit (snowmobile bib-overalls, long-underwear, hats, gloves, etc.) in addition to a shovel in my car at all times (this meant it never left my car, even in 100 degree heat of summer).

When I was in college, I was planning on going to see a friend of mine who lived in Eastern Tennessee over spring break.  The drive was about 6 hours from Southern Illinois to the mountains in Tennessee.  The days leading up to spring break were gloriously warm, not uncommon for Southern Illinois in March.  Unusual though, the weather channel was reporting some strange, contradictory weather conditions in the next several days.  It turns out that the National Weather Service had just switched weather prediction systems and the new model was predicting something that seemed absolutely bizarre.  All of the other models predicted normal, fairly warm, spring weather for the next week or so.  But the new model was predicting apocalyptic snow in Tennessee and throughout much of the South and especially in the Appalachian Mountains.  Surely the new model was wrong or buggy or somehow in error.

For those who may be guessing, this was the 1993 Storm-of-the-Century and I cavalierly drove right into it!

Although I was committed to getting to my destination that night, my traveling companion was in a full-fledged panic (there was maybe 4 inches of snow on the ground but this person was given to fits of hysteria).  Reluctantly, I stopped at the city where I would get off the interstate and we got a motel room—the last one as many other people were abandoning their travel plans.  

The next morning I got up determined to finish our journey but when I opened the curtains, I saw a snowdrift that completely covered my 1990 Ford Escort!  We had about 18 inches of snow and 50 mph winds in a county without snowplows—they had never before been needed!

It continued to snow and drift all day.

The next day I set out to start digging out my car and get out of the motel and back on the road.  Fortunately, I had plenty of winter gear and my shovel so I got right to work.  It took me several hours of digging, but I got my car cleared out and some room to maneuver.  The National Guard had been called out and they packed down (not cleared) the snow right to my car (actually this complicated things, but it did clear a path).  The motel was located almost a quarter mile off the road, so I was happy to not have to shovel all of that.

During all of this time I saw all of the consequences of others not being prepared.  I of course had winter boots as a part of my winter kit, but I am pretty sure that I was the only person in the whole motel (county?) that did.  Many people ventured outside with socks covered by plastic bags that were then placed in ordinary shoes.  This was no match for deep snow.  Also, I was the only person to have a shovel at the entire motel.  My motel neighbors were from Alaska, but they were utterly unprepared for the intense snowfall.  They were about to offer me their first-born for the shovel.

When I did make it out, I got on the interstate, not even knowing if it was open.  It was, but just barely.  I traveled west, away from the worst of the storm, but I passed by 5 miles of cars stuck back-to-back in the eastbound lane.  Note: I saw 5 miles, but I have no idea how much further to the east this blocked-up traffic continued.  I assume for many miles.  As the local authorities did not have snowplows, the interstate was being cleared by road graders.

So this is a long post, but my ultimate points are that even though I was stuck, with a little common-sense preparation (winter clothing, boots) and a shovel, I was able to get out of a true snow disaster without too much difficulty.

This was perhaps the greatest blizzard I have ever experienced, not for snow totals or wind speeds (I have seen worse than those), but by the magnitude of human impact, largely due to so many people not being prepared with even basic winter items and a shovel which are things that I just always keep around even today.


I hope this is helpful,

Eric

Hi Eric,

If this was the storm I think it was, I was doing an accreditation survey in extreme eastern TN maybe 40 miles south of I 40.  Thankfully I was in my truck.  I have lived 7 years in Michigan and 4 in northern MN, but this was the wildest weather I encountered.  So, I am driving on clear roads and bright sunshine, i go over a hill and around a curve and my truck is sideways in a blinding snowstorm.  Each hill and curve brought a different weather pattern.
Anyway, after the first curve, I stopped at the first store that was open… a lumber yard…and bought 100 2x4 for the weight.  It was a memorable purchase for two reasons.  The 2x4 were $0.79 each.   And the guy at the lumber yards face when he noticed my Illinois plate.  I deadpanned, “ I always drive to TN to buy my lumber.”

John,

On that trip, my normal route was to take I-40 to Crossville which is about 100 miles east of Nashville.  From there my journey took me through back country roads and eventually leads me over a substantial ridge, at the bottom of which is the town of Spring City.  From the the journey continues over Watts Bar Dam and deep into the countryside.

That day though I got off the interstate at Crossville and stayed at the first motel off the highway.

One fun side experience I had happened on the day I woke up and realized that there was absolutely no way I was going any further.  For much of the day I sat inside being bored while my traveling companion complained and panicked.  I was itching to go outside so I got dressed, walked outside just to see what was happening and I found someone who had driven his truck (Chevy S-10, 2WD, compact pickup) into the parking lot and gotten stuck trying to get out.  Since I had a shovel and time I went over to help him get out.  

Clearly he didn’t know how to drive in snow.  I helped dig out lanes for his tires to travel along and reach pavement, but he quickly overran those little trenches in the snow.  We still had almost a quarter mile to go so instead of digging, I decided to push him out.  Initially he put his truck into 1st gear(stick shift) and floored the pedal, kicking up huge rooster tails of snow which did nothing for his forward travel.  He therefore decided to shift into second gear!  This is obviously the wrong thing to do, but he was determined and of course this determination failed.  He then shifted into third!  By the time he was in third gear, the spinning tires actually melted their way through the snow, briefly made contact with the asphalt below and the truck lurched forward perhaps 18” before it stalled.  I went up to the cab to tell him that 1st gear was the best option at which point he told me that it wasn’t working and he was so stuck that he needed to shift into third!  There was no point in trying to explain further why this was a bad idea.

At any rate, I pushed and he lurched his truck forward by 18” increments or so until he finally made it the whole 1/4 mile distance to the main road and drove off.  I was happy to have had something to do for a couple of hours.

The next day before we got on the road, my traveling companion and I walked over to the Shoney’s next door which stayed open during the whole storm.  As we were planning on getting on the road with no real idea of when we could eat again or if the interstate was even open, we decided to eat a big meal in advance.  And by big, I mean HUGE!  My 21 year old appetite truly knew no boundaries then so I really packed the food in.  We were paying by credit card so we could worry about the bill later.  When the time came to pay the bill, the waitress walked up and told us that there was no bill today as I had helped the cook get his stuck truck out of the parking lot the previous day!  

I thought that was a pretty nice gesture.


Eric

I was traveling out just as the storm was beginning.  I40 was reasonably tame (it got much worse later).  I stopped somewhere near Sieverville for a quick meal.  …not a feast.  I turned north at Nashville. By the time I hit Clarksville the weather was behind me.  Using questionable logic and a more questionable memory, I suspect the moisture was coming up from the gulf.

As Brody mentioned, a snow scoop can be your friend.  Of the broadly available makes, I prefer the "Garant" blue plastic ones to the gray and black ones made by Suncast.  The Suncast model is nicely collapsible for shipping (and storage), but there is something defective with the angles of the cutting edge relative to the handle location.  Either the edge digs in or it slips, but not in between.  Very frustrating.  The Garant models (in several sizes) do work, though, and are dandy if you need to tote it up a ladder to clean off a flat roof after a big dumper.  Silver Bear brand is the cat's pajamas for terrestrial based endeavors, if you can find one.  They made from galvanized sheet metal, with EMT (electrical conduit) handles.  Unless your snow is super dry, light and fluffy, or you are Andre the Giant, I wouldn't go any larger than their medium sized model.  The big one is just too big for most people and snow conditions, at least in my opinion.

Rather than climbing up on a roof to clear snow, I prefer the Avalanche roof rakes.  I have 6 or 7 lengths of handle - the stock setup, plus a box of extensions.  That's about as many as are practically usable, since at full length, the handle tends to bow like an Olympian's pole vault pole.  The whole setup will cost less than your co-pay for a trip to the Emergency room.  This style of roof rake uses a slippery plastic sheet, and a sort of free-hand wire cheese slicer affair.  Actually, it's a small diameter metal rod, not a wire, that does the cutting, but it's more or less the same idea.  You can pull down literal tons of snow from a roof in a few minutes.  For flatter roofs, stand up a step ladder several feet back from the eave of the roof (I have a Costco knockoff of a Little Giant - very stable and adjustable) and work off the ladder - carefully.  Being on the ladder will allow you to push parallel to the roof without needing 30 rods and a perch of handle.

If you do need to chip ice, I prefer using a very light hatchet.  I have a little Fiskars which has chopped more ice than wood.  Yes, I know that means I have a hot roof deck.  Yes, I know I need to add both insulation and ventilation.  Like a lot of things, it's "on the list".  It's a story-and-a-half house, and whoever blew in the cellulose insulation packed it full from the top of the walls to the top of the ceiling joists, including under the pitch of the roof.  No ventilation equals a hot roof deck.  It was like this when I bought it, I've done some things to mitigate it, but the next time it needs shingles, it's getting a vented double roof.  Then, I can put 6 inches of pink panther under the rest of the roof deck and have heated attic space, if desired.  But fewer icicles, for sure.  .Incidentally, there is a US Army Cold Region Research and Engineering Lab paper detailing what insulation and ventilation  combos will work to maintain a cold roof deck, based on research done on the base housing at Fort Drum.  (Edit: https://www.poa.usace.army.mil/Portals/34/docs/engineering/MP-02-5778,%20Guidelines%20for%20Ventilating%20Attics%20and%20Cathedral%20Ceilings%20to%20Avoid%20Icings%20at%20Their%20Eaves.pdf)  I'll try to find the link and post on edit.

I am a big fan of a steel square nosed shovel with a D-handle for most purposes.  Easily gripped with mittens on.  Steel holds up better than aluminum for serious social purposes, and when the cutting edge gets uneven from scraping concrete or curled over from chopping ice, a little tune-up with a 4-1/2" angle grinder will have it right as rain in short order.  When (not if) the blade cracks from long use, it's easier to weld up steel than aluminum (unless you have or know someone who has aluminum welding gear - heliarc or spool gun wire feed; or, if you're really good, with a gas torch).  But a long handled square nose can help dig out the snow under a high centered vehicle so that it can get some weight (and traction) back on its tires.  I carry both in my rig.

Good snow tires )not "All Seasons") will have the "3 Peaks" emblem and directional tread.  Winterforce, Blizzak and Nokian all have dedicated followings around here.  I had some Coopers which were OK, and the old Power Kings were dandy, even if a very soft compound, though I don't think they exist any more.  If your local laws permit, studded tires will give more grip on snow and ice, but will be "skittery" on dry pavement (studs are verboten here, but my dad always had studded tires when we lived on the west slope of the Tetons).  My daily driver is a '94 2WD Ford Ranger with a 5-speed manual transmission.  It's pretty hilly here, and as long as I have decent tires on it (front and rear) and four or five sand sausages over the rear axle, I do OK with it.  I've only been really stuck twice with it, both times in the driveway after the county wing grader came by and pushed 2/3 of a street's worth of fresh dump.  Application of the aforementioned long handled square nose shovel (and the Silver Bear scoop) had it pretty quickly.  As has been mentioned, chains can be helpful under certain circumstances.  Like, getting back out to the county road after a good snow at deer camp.  I have chains for my ratty old one-ton ( a retired state highway department truck), which right now mostly only gets used for fetching firewood and towing heavy trailer and such.  Once I get the new-to-me used skirted flat bed on it and mount up the old Desert Dynamics worm drive winch on the bed behind the headache rack, plus fab up a set of telescopic "gin poles" (shear legs, really), it may get used for setting trusses and logs and erecting timber frame bents, but for now, it sits more than it moves.  By the way, if you don't need the extra weight carrying capacity, running singles, rather than duals, on the rear of a one ton will get you more grip and less slip.  If you are consistently towing heavy, you'll just need to be extra careful that the rear end doesn't try to pass up the front when you are running empty.

Regarding snowblowers, I have never seen a walk behind snowblower to equal the hydrostatic drive Hondas, but they cost a mint, even well used.  Whether on tracks or wheels, they will sling snow a country mile and stack it high while sipping fuel.  They'll start first pull.  Some engineer earned his or her keep designing those!  Other reputable brands include Ariens and Simplicity.  I think the current Husqvarnas pretty much the same as the Cub Cadets - basically an MTD.  Some like them, but I'm a little leery- they seem awfully lightly built.  If you can find an old John Deere (the ones with the lockable differential), those are pretty good, too.  I have an old Noma (a Canadian brand) which did yeomans service for many years, but is getting pretty ragged, now.  I had an old Gilson which was built like a tank, but would only sling snow about 10 feet high; might have been OK some places, but not here, where 300+ inches of lake effect in a season is an easy winter.  For walk-behinds, I'd be inclined to get an older Ariens (or John Deere, if you can find one), rather than some new-fangled, wizz-bang, 3-stage marketing ploy of a snow blower.  Put a paddle kit on the second stage, get chains for the tires and get after it.  Or, if you're rich as Croesus, then go for the Honda.

I am currently scheming on mounting a Kubota-badged (but Canadian made) 2-stage 38" cut blower attachment in front of my 1961 Cub Cadet (the old gear drive, with the same transaxle as a Farmall Cub - built for real work, with ground engaging implements), but I haven't completed the project, yet, so I don't know how it will turn out.  The Cub Cadet has chains, wheel weights and cutting brakes.  My plan is to keep the second stage fan's tip velocity in the neighborhood of 5,000 feet/minute.  That seems to be the target speed for good performance, according to the cognoscenti.  We shall see...