dgpcolorado
high altitude member
I'd guess that 95% of my winter driving is on clear roads here in mostly sunny Colorado. The only traction difficulty I usually have is getting up my long steep driveway. Once I get to the main roads they are plowed and sanded and then melt out in a day or two when the sun comes out. Driving down to the "big city" (population 25,000) often means temperatures in the 50s and 60s in winter.
This isn't the frozen north where one is driving on snow a lot and temperatures stay below freezing or below zero F for extended periods. I used to use snow tires when I lived on the Front Range (Denver/Boulder metro area) because I would choose to go skiing right after a storm when roads were sloppy. But here I can wait a day for the roads to be cleared and melt out.
So far as performance is concerned, come on! I've been driving mountain twisties for decades and I have never, not once, had my regular tires slip on dry roads on steep grades (14%) or hairpin turns, even in winter.
That said, I might just go with snow tires next winter for the convenience but I may still end up having to chain up to get up my driveway. Although after rain last night (rain? in January?) part of my driveway is glare ice and even chains might not do much to get me up it, never mind snow tires; perhaps studded snows but I'm not going there. I've lived in Colorado for more than three decades and this is the first time I've ever seen that. If this is what I can expect from global warming I don't much like it. (At least I don't have to worry about sea levels rising here at 7670 feet...)
