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Lessons you will learn living in a snowy place

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Re: Lessons you will learn living in a snowy place

#131

Post by kalleboo »

nucleardog wrote: post #36
literalAardvark wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it's icy there's no difference at all. The only tyres that do anything on ice are the ones with spikes or chains. If it's snowy a good modern all weather tyre can hold its own, but will brake a few feet later than a good winter tyre. In all other conditions a good all weather is a lot better than winter tyres, and pretty close to a good summer tyre.

I... Well, I had started explaining point by point how wrong this is but frankly the answer is just "all of it, very". I've driven summer tires, all season tires, winter tires, and studded winter tires in every season in Canada. (Yes, I live in Canada and own borderline-usless summer-only tires. Yes, I've tried driving them in snow.) None of what you're saying lines up with my own experience, various YouTube videos o…

There are also actual studies that show the difference https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-66968-2_...

Re: Lessons you will learn living in a snowy place

#132

Post by stevekemp »

delis-thumbs-7e wrote: post #66
jader201 wrote: post #50

One thing this article doesn’t cover (but probably should): shoveling snow has a fairly high risk of heart attacks (especially past 50): https://newsroom.heart.org/news/snow-shoveling-can-be-hazard...

I suspect it is because snow storms are fairly rare or at least random and quite a few people do not a) realise they have not done much of any physical exercise for ages b) think shoveling snow is easy, try to do it fast and take too big loads into shovel (which you can with snow, but not with sand). For older people this might mean overexertion and possible seizure, if their cardiovascular health is not well either.…

Here in Finland there are a lot of people brought to hospital due to heart attacks whilst shoveling snow.

I didn't expect that, though I can't claim to be surprised by the number of elderly people who go to casualty due to falling on ice.

Re: Lessons you will learn living in a snowy place

#133

Post by lisper »

throwaway290 wrote: post #112
coffeebeqn wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Article should be called Lessons you learn living in a place where it regularly snows but with terrible infrastructure and seemingly no societal preparedness for said regular snow

Even in deep Russia I don't think "power goes out with first winter storm" is a thing. and I thought russian infra sucked... That said I remember power could go out from a lightning storm or without any reason. But pretty rarely

I am in Honolulu right now and the power has gone out twice in the last three days because of high winds.

Re: Lessons you will learn living in a snowy place

#134

Post by jjav »

dlcarrier wrote: post #59
brettgriffin wrote: post #4

Put winter tires on your vehicles. I'm surprised by the number of people who tool around in snow and ice in 'all season' tires. Also, that writing tone is obnoxious.

I'm in the foothills in Northern California, and I've never met anyone here that changes their ties out for winter. When there's chain controls, they'll let you through if you have winter rated tires, including all-season, and all-wheel drive, otherwise you need chains. Everyone I know who drives a lot in the snow gets a vehicle with all-wheel drive and everyone else carries chains. (really they're cables, on a small…

> The difference between what winter-only tires can handle vs winter-rated all-season tires is so minimal that they're not with getting.

Yeah.. no. The difference is night and day.

Put on some Nokian Hakkapeliitta tires and prepare to be amazed. The grip on snow is spectacular.

All the years I lived in snow areas I drove a Miata of all things.. RWD, light, no ABS, no TC, 4" clearance. But with Hakkapeliitta tires I never once had any trouble, while people in their trucks and 4x4s were stuck on the side of the road due to all-season tires. A true snow tire is a whole different level.

> Northern California ... chain controls

The whole California chain thing is brain damage. The proper safe answer to driving in snow is top quality snow tires, not chains. Chains is the worst possible idea. The chain laws are laws created by politicians who live in sunny Sacramento and have never seen snow and have no clue.

A car with Hakkapeliittas (Blizzaks are good too) will outhandle a car with chains 100% of the time.

Re: Lessons you will learn living in a snowy place

#135

Post by rgmerk »

silcoon wrote: post #114
yokoprime wrote: post #25

> In the first really heavy winter storm of the year, your power might go off. This is understandable Having lived in Norway most of my 40+ years on this earth, I can with some confidence say that this is not an universal truth. I don’t think I’ve experienced any power interruption of over 1 hour in winter ever, and it’s been at least 5 years since the last time. Yes it snows here. A lot.

I lived in Australia in Far North Queensland until last year and power was running out every heavy rain. The point is that in that region there are only two seasons: a short dry season and a long wet one. So everyone expects multiple power off a year and every household has generators and stock of fuel and matches for emergency. Locals have a “it’s gonna be fine” attitude against a poor (but expensive) infrastructure…

Worth keeping in mind that nobody freezes to death in FNQ if the power goes out.

Re: Lessons you will learn living in a snowy place

#137

Post by codingdave »

qingcharles wrote: post #101
hysan wrote: post #22

Something about the tone of the article just makes me want to write a retort / criticism instead of praising the advice. Maybe it’s because it feels like an incomplete list or that it’s too generalized but written like the author has learned it all. For example, no mention of learning when and what to do to avoid frozen pipes. Or how to fix things when it happens. Also, shoveling snow isn’t that hard if you have the…

I just learned first hand what to do with frozen pipes. Couldn't stop it this year as it went so far below zero. On the last day before it warmed up one of the pipes split and put about 2ft of water into the basement. Amazing to see the damage to the CPVC pipe that broke -- like it literally exploded, which it probably did.

You should have a shutoff valve on every pipe that goes through an external wall. Before bitter cold like that, turn off the valve and drain that pipe. If it is supplying an outdoor spigot, that shutoff should just be part of your winter prep.

(And yes - I, too, learned that the hard way.)

Re: Lessons you will learn living in a snowy place

#138

Post by tclancy »

A fun one I only learned recently in spite of having lived with snow all my life: while propane doesn't go liquid until around -80F, the oil pan in the generator needs help somewhere before -40F (and actually that was the wind chill, so it was probably only -20F or so). Thankfully we do have woodstoves, plural.

Re: Lessons you will learn living in a snowy place

#139

Post by bradfa »

internet_points wrote: post #71
computerdork wrote: post #23

Moved a year ago from California to northern Michigan. To add to this list, specifically regarding "Do NOT get wet and cold": o If you're walking out in the cold, have many different ways to keep your feet and your hands warm, because usually, you'll have a good-enough coat and winter-pants that'll keep your core relatively warm, but it's the very ends of your extremities that get cold (just got a small amount of fro…

> battery-heated versions all the ones I've seen when researching were lithium-ion from sketchy-looking brands, any brands you recommend?

Any sold at a physical ski shop. You will make a face at the price. You will reconsider the sketchy ones for their price. But the ski shop ones will last significantly longer.

Re: Lessons you will learn living in a snowy place

#140

Post by bigchorizo »

Here's a lifehack my dad taught me. If you have cold feet and no way to warm them - stuff some newspaper (or any kind of paper really) in your boots or socks. Most of the cold comes from moisture and paper is incredibly good at sucking it all up. The difference is huge and instant .

I feel like this trick has saved me from catching a cold on quite a few occassions.

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