Weather talks

[warpus]

Chicago, Michigan, etc. often sees worse winter conditions than Southwestern Ontario, from what I've seen anyway, I'd expect people who live close to the Canadian border to equip their cars with winter tires. Everyone on this side of the border does, because putting it rather bluntly, it would be stupid not to. Even if we got 50% of the snow and ice we usually get, you'd want winter tires. Otherwise you're just probably going to get into an accident sooner rather than later. It's not safe, get your winter tires for the winter, even if you get 20% of the snow that we get up here on average.

But yeah, I mean, it does make sense that most Americans wouldn't need them. So the most qualifier seems to be accurate, but either way, there's still probably millions of Americans who do get winter tires. They'd be stupid not to.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Yeah probably millions do. Out of 300 million, the vast majority of which live well south of Canada. That was my whole point - not that everyone can get by without them but for the vast majority of us, yeah, we can and do get by without them just fine. Is it prudent to not have them? Maybe not, but then again you have to weigh the cost of buying/equipping them versus the actually utility you would get out of them.

 

[warpus]

It's surprising that where I live is at the same latitude as northern California, yet we just get destroyed in the winter, get so much snow it's crazy (this particular winter excluded). A lot of that is the "lake effect", it affects parts of the U.S. in the same brutal fashion it usually affects us here in southwestern Ontario and beyond.

I would expect most drivers in Michigan, Chicago, and basically anywhere in this area to get winter tires once it's December. That's a lot of people! Even if the population of the country is 330 million or whatever.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Well you would have to figure out the ratio of

People who don't need snow tires in snowy places
-------------------------
People in snowy places


The numerator would include lots of people who have access to decent public transit* (NYC, Chicago, etc), don't or can't drive (elderly, school children, etc) and those who live in cities that can generally clear snow fast enough that you would only need snow tires for a few days a year, in which case many opt to stay home.

*And the NE is the region with the most people who get lots of snow but is also the one region with the best public transit in the US. And Chicagoland also has decent public transit, which makes up a lot of the total population of 'upper midwesterners'.

 

[warpus]

Public transit doesn't matter, if you live in a place that gets as much snow as Toronto or Chicago or whatever, and you own a car and it gets used in the winter, you need to have snow tires. If you don't, you're just being dangerous to those around you, to yourself, and anyone in your car.

I don't really know if we really disagree on much here, but it's been drilled into my head that you just.. get winter tires in the winter. Or else you're a dangerous idiot. Americans aren't generally stupid, so I assume that those who live in a place like Chicago properly suit up for the winter.

 

[sophie]

For what it's worth, it's probably pronounced similar to "egg-lees-ooroo", given that the Welsh vowel 'w' is generally a long U sound.

Yes, although wy is pronounced as a diphthong in Welsh, cf.: "Clwyd", rhymes with Boyd.

 

[Arakhor]

I've never met anyone who ever pronounced the Welsh county as "Cloyd".

 

[sophie]

I've never met anyone who ever pronounced the Welsh county as "Cloyd".

It's not a perfect rhyme, as the vowels are slightly different, but it is a close approximation for English:


Link to video.

 

[Daw]

Hey, Owen, is your "surname" pronounced like /glind-u:r/ or similar? I've always had trouble with it for all those years, and now finally it's like I'm able to read it

 

[Arakhor]

She clearly says "Cloo-id", not "Cloyd". Maybe this is a trans-Atlantic thing.

 

[warpus]

Yeah I heard Clue-it or Clue-id or something similar.

 

[Daw]

"Cloo-id", not "Cloyd".

To my untrained ear it's neither but something in between, actually...

 

[sophie]

Hey, Owen, is your "surname" pronounced like /glind-u:r/ or similar? I've always had trouble with it for all those years, and now finally it's like I'm able to read it

If you want to do it properly it's:

glɨ̞n'du:r where /ɨ̞/ is a near-close central unrounded vowel (there aren't many examples of this in English, but the closest would be the /ɪ/ in glint, although the y in Glyndwr is a little further back in the mouth. And then the r is rolled.

 

[Daw]

And then the r is rolled.

This part is easy to me as a Rrrrrussian. I'll have to practice the rest of it though before I can go public with it.

 

[warpus]

I can't roll r's worth crap and every other Polish or Slav person seems to have no problems doing so...

 

[sophie]

I can't roll r's worth crap and every other Polish or Slav person seems to have no problems doing so...

It just takes practice. I couldn't even conceive of rolling my r's when I first started learning Spanish in high school, now it's a trivial thing.

 

[Cutlass]

You mean, legally or practically? Practically, it looks like they do.

I live in Connecticut. And I don't need snow tires here. Haven't had a set since the last time I had a rear drive car.

 

[Daw]

I live in Connecticut. And I don't need snow tires here. Haven't had a set since the last time I had a rear drive car.

I think I got what the difference is. We don't have your blizzards here, so we can't have feet of snow overnight, and then fine sunny dry weather with positive temperatures ensuring dry asphalt for the next month.

Instead, it can snow lightly for months, with only short breaks, so that each morning you have an inch or two of snow to brush from your car before you go (and the municipalities have to brush it away from the streets). And then any time and anywhere you go, you go on fresh snow or slush. It may be less than half-inch deep, but it's still enough to slide, and it's more often there than it's not.

This make the days when you don't need snow tires scarce here. BTW, when I bought my car it was January and the car was equipped with summer tires, and I went home just fine, and was driving around for a couple of days before I had it rebooted.

So I can even imagine myself saying, "I don't need snow tires," because I can go around without them. It's just that with them I need to go out of my way and do stuff I otherwise wouldn't to see if my traction control or ABS work, because normally I don't see them switching on whatever the weather is.

On the other hand, I usually reboot in the second half of October, i.e. well before the snow. And reboot back into summer tires mid-April, i.e. after the snow is completely gone and will hardly reoccur. So, I don't see a problem in using winter tires on dry asphalt, too. But that makes sure that I never participate actively in sports like car curling like that (note that the fire truck in the end of the vid is quite fine and doesn't slide anywhere while the road is obviously very slippery):

Spoiler :

Link to video.

Or or car bobsleigh like that (which is btw exactly in conditions I described above as being usual here).

Spoiler :

Link to video.

The last video is from WV (West Virginia?), and it is to the South-West from where you are, right?

 

[Daw]

It was short of -20^oC last week, -12^oC when I checked my thermometer yesterday, -8^oC right now and we're expecting positive temperatures by Thursday.

The forecast was right, it's +2^oC now, as per my thermometer. And it's raining very lightly (drizzling?).

According to weatherchannel.com, we had so far this year:

Last 7 Days: -2 °C to -19 °C
Month to Date: 0 °C to -22 °C

Next week is going to be up to +4 in the days to -3 in the nights, with subzero both day and night temperatures back by next Saturday.

 

[Antilogic]

I get it that it's bad for morning jogging.

Is it common in winter in Georgia? Do drivers use winter tires there?

Georgia usually doesn't get snow, or if it does it is such a light dusting that you can still see the grass poke through. So the state generally doesn't stock road salt, snow plows, or other equipment to handle freezing conditions. Likewise, the residents don't normally purchase snow tires.

Which means that whenever a little ice forms overnight or there is a rare snow, everything shuts down and it's incredibly dangerous.