Winter weather in Burlington VT.

[A930Rocket]

Ms Rocket is about to leave for a four month contract working at a hospital in Burlington VT. She has a 2015 Tahoe w/ 2WD and newer all season tires. Distance from “home” to the hospital is two miles.

Will she need snow tires?

[Eric Hahl]

From the interwebs....

Throughout much of winter, Burlington has at least an inch of snow on the ground. Typically, on 21 days a year the snow covering Burlington gets to ten or more inches deep. Usually for two of those days the snowpack here builds up to over 20 inches.

Not sure how much that helps.

[flatbutt]

From my experience there the worst of the winter is the cold. She'll learn how to handle the snow but the cold seems to never end.

[stevej37]

With newer all-season tires...I would think she would be good. Esp with a short drive to work.
Our winters here are similar. It's been at least 20 years since I bought snow tires.
Good tire tread on fwd will go thru a lot of snow.

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Good news: if she gets snow tires- at 2 mile distance- even they will not wear out too quick.

If she if going in on second third shifts, or "needs" to be there, just get some and forget it.

[Crowbob]

No. But snows do help.

Two miles is walkable if she goes in the ditch. When my kids first were driving and when winter hit, I took them to a huge (empty) parking lot to get the bugs out.

Both are now quite proficient at not letting me know if they’re stuck someplace.

[oldE]

Get the snow tires on the vehicle. Before mid to November if possible.

Best
Les

[TimT]

Yes, get snows.. or if it possible an AWD vehicle

Burlington can be awful.. I have a house about 40 miles south... and the winters can be brutal..

FFS I worked in Williston for a year And the winter was just relentless..The roads never really clear of ice and snow.. you get tracks..

[Alan A]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

Ms Rocket is about to leave for a four month contract working at a hospital in Burlington VT. She has a 2015 Tahoe w/ 2WD and newer all season tires. Distance from “home” to the hospital is two miles.

Will she need snow tires?

Do you love her?

2WD and has to be there (hospital) means there will be ****ty weather and bad roads.
The most upside down in a ditch car in Vermont is a Subaru with all seasons. They think AWD defies the laws of physics. OTOH I never saw a RWD car with VT plates do the same because the drivers have two sets of tires.

Buy them and buy them on cheap rims. The rims will likely get dinged up…

[LEAKYSEALS951]

Do you love your wife? THIS is the only option:

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Burlington gets 6 feet snow a year give or take. Down here in the Boston area we have had more rain and I can remember in the 23 years I've lived here. If the weather patterns keep up, we'll get 6 to 10 feet of snow here this winter. I am hoping global warming will make most of that rain.

Subara AWD with a set of snows is your best bet for Ms. Rocket if she will be there in the snowy months.

[Rot 911]

If she can get out of going, she should. Vermont in winter is one of the most depressing places to live. I really think you need to be born there to survive the winter. Every day is overcast with a good chance of snow. I had the opportunity to take a job there. After visiting and talking to the neighbors, who grew up there, I declined. Burlington is fairly flat down by the lake, but goes progressively uphill. So it really depends on where the hospital and where she is staying is located. And yes, it snows. And snows and snows and snows. They finally give up plowing the streets and just let it build up. I don’t know how often your wife has had the opportunity to drive in the snow, but she could possibly do OK if you put some serious snow tires on that vehicle. Eventually May comes around and then you have mud season.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by stevej37

With newer all-season tires...I would think she would be good. Esp with a short drive to work.
Our winters here are similar. It's been at least 20 years since I bought snow tires.
Good tire tread on fwd will go thru a lot of snow.

I don't have tons of snow driving experience, but I have driven in snow on ordinary tires in rear wheel drive vehicles multiple times. 1965 Impala with manual everything, 1976 chevette manual everything, '78 dodge Omni (fwd) manual everything, and even my '08 Boxster S with summer tires (I was desperate), and managed in them all mostly when I was a teenager. Good A/S and a rear wheel drive truck and she should be ok if she's a sensible driver.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Rot 911

If she can get out of going, she should. Vermont in winter is one of the most depressing places to live. I really think you need to be born there to survive the winter. Every day is overcast with a good chance of snow. I had the opportunity to take a job there. After visiting and talking to the neighbors, who grew up there, I declined. Burlington is fairly flat down by the lake, but goes progressively uphill. So it really depends on where the hospital and where she is staying is located. And yes, it snows. And snows and snows and snows. They finally give up plowing the streets and just let it build up. I don’t know how often your wife has had the opportunity to drive in the snow, but she could possibly do OK if you put some serious snow tires on that vehicle. Eventually May comes around and then you have mud season.

Ah, yeah, if the winter is like that then snow tires (four of them) is the way to go. That sounds like the winter in Japan. We got lots of snow and often had months of snow on the roads. Snow tires were a requirement and occasionally even chains.

[ramonesfreak]

Is it front wheel or rear wheel drive? Front good, rear bad.

All season are fine. I’ve never owned snow tires in my life and I’m 40 minutes east of Buffalo.

If rear wheel drive, better load up the rear with bags of cat litter and perhaps a AAA membership

[ramonesfreak]

Btw, it’s El Niño this year so perhaps a dry, warmer winter this year

[A930Rocket]

Rear wheel 2WD.

I suppose she could buy snow tires up there and have them mounted on her current wheels. Store her all season times at home, then swap before she leaves. Sell the snow tires before leaving.

While the Tahoe is big and heavy, she doesn’t have any real winter driving experience.

Sounds like snow tires are in her future.

Edit: She’s a traveling nurse and has worked her way up the East Coast the past year, while segment hiking the Appalachian Trail. She’s gone from Springer Mountain, Georgia to the Pennsylvania/New Jersey border so far. The end is in sight!

[ramonesfreak]

Snow tires or not, I’m warning ya rear wheel drive is not good. It’s doable. I drove a Mustang all through college here….but I liked going sideways down the road and at 18 I didn’t think too hard about consequences. The problem is sliding off the road or getting stuck. Snow tires would be a must with RWD but honestly, unless you grew up driving in snow with a RWD vehicle I highly recommend against it

The problem with gettin stuck is…..you become dependent on a stranger for help. No thanks. Mom taught me not to talk to strangers.

[Alan A]

Go to tire rack

AR944

Firestone Winterforce 2UV

With TPMS mounted and balanced are 866 with my sales tax.

By time you buy and swap twice that’ll be cheaper, and there’s a ready market for mounted tires when you want to sell.

[ramonesfreak]

And VT has a lot of hills……RWD is very bad going up hills, down too.

I drove my Mustang all over Vermont and New Hampshire in winter while in college…..can’t believe I made it. Some really scary moments on those mountain roads in the snow