You Should Know

Note to add to the stuck part:

Keep two small lengths of wood in your trunk. When stuck, wedge them underneath your powered wheels in the direction your going, i.e. in front if your going forward, and behind if trying to reverse.

Edit: spelling

Hey South Western British Columbian here, please send me as much of your snow as you feel comfortable giving us

Yall have any recommendations for thin gloves that could fit under mittens that preferably don't have seams and don't costn an arm and a leg?

Was that just all a set up for the ICE bit at the end?!

Something I picked up when driving in Wisconsin is if you are driving and need to change lanes take your foot off the acceleration pedal if there is a layer of Snow/slush/ice between the lanes. If the tires slip your not adding power to the wheels. Also take your time and slowly drift into the lane. It's not a race.

A tip someone gave me if you can't see the lane markers well is to slowly move towards the rumble strip. This can help you know where the edge of the road is.

I suggest you keep a reflective jacket or vest in the car just so you can be seen IF you need to get out of the car if you get stuck or putting on chains.

Rocking back and forth doesn't help me when I watch the news, so I doubt it'll help me get out of a snow drift.

Canadian here: Storm chips and whisky.

Lots of great advice here and in the comments. To add some clarity to driving carefully, imagine that you are driving with an open fish tank on the floor of the passenger side and you don't want to lose any fish.

Another small one for driving: unless you need to stop/slow down, it's far better to just let of the gas/accelerator and coast that to touch the brakes and risk breaking traction. This goes for things like, unsure if person in lane a wants to move over? Unsure if person is going to pull out? Similar things. If its slick, you really don't want to overuse your brakes.

Excellent advice.

Regarding windshield wipers: my mechanic advises people not to leave them up. He says that doing this too often can stretch the springs in your wipers, ultimately reducing the downforce that makes them effective. Someone else in the comments mentioned using a vinyl (or cardboard) cover for your windshield - this can be a good timesaver that is kind to your wipers.

I can't remember the last time I had french toast but after reading the comments here it seems like necessary step to survive the weekend.

Learn where the water shutoff is to your house.

If the worst happens and you lose power for any significant amount of time with no way to heat your home, and you face leaving your house find someplace warm, shut the water off. Some might suggest leaving taps trickling, and that might work for sinks, but won’t for toilets and other pipes.

Open the lowest spigot in the house to drain as much water as possible. Flush the toilets enough times to empty the tanks. Pour cheap vodka in the toilet “S” traps and sink “U” traps as a cheap antifreeze.

I’ve had to winterize a house on several occasions, learned the hard way on a couple occasions when I came back to a busted toilet or cracked drain.

E: oh, and clean your damn car roof off. I’m tired of chunks of snow flying off cars into mine, or almost as bad, the clowns that hit the brakes and the snowpack slides forward completely blocking their windshield. Now they can’t see and are blocking the road.

Go to the sporting goods store and buy a pair of ski goggles. Best purchase I ever made.

Waddle like a penguin on ice. They rarely fall over

We never used to get studded tires BUT the climate has changed dramatically. It used to get cold and stay cold but now it may be 40 and rain then drop into the teens, leaving a slippery ice coating. Studded tires help a lot. A 4-wheel drive vehicle can get you going but they cannot stop or steer any better than a 2-whell drive vehicle.

• turn off traction control

In some cars to turn off the traction control and ABS, you have to push and hold the button on the dash (usually depicted with a wheel and two squiggly lines). You will know it is off if the ABS and/or TCS alert lights appear on the dashboard.

If you’re in a location that will get a significant amount of snow, 8” or more, find the fire hydrant closest to your house and clear an area around it to at least a couple feet.

When walking with a lot of ice, always walk on the snowy, cloudy, and/or crunchy looking areas. You'll get more grip with the crunch of the ice and snow than on just ice. If it looks clear, didn't go near. (Or something like that)

If you're just going to pop out to the store, don't neglect your wardrobe! Dress for the ditch, not your destination. If you slide off the road you don't want to be freezing to death in your sneakers and hoody trying to dig your car out. Bonus points for bringing a shovel, trying to dig your car out with an ice scraper sucks.