HomeFairfax General ForumArrest/Ticket SearchWiki newPictures/VideosChatArticlesLinksAbout
Fairfax County General :  Fairfax Underground fairfax underground logo
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: AlenaC ()
Date: August 07, 2006 07:50PM

new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?

during snow, are studded tires allowed here? (have a set of spare wheels
mounted with studded tires on my '04 Volvo... used a couple of seasons,
if they're not allowed here, I might as well sell the tires)

Thanks!

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: RESton Peace ()
Date: August 07, 2006 07:53PM

depends on the year and type of storm, but studded tires are overkill here most years. But if you already have them they may be handy in a real emergency....

We do have occasional blizzards that lay down 1-2 feet, but most of the time the real issue is sheets of ice on the road, and the behavior of snowstorms as they approach the "rain-snow line" and begin to throw down wetter precipitation.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: TheMeeper ()
Date: August 07, 2006 07:58PM

It's a mixed bag, some winters we hardly get touched by snow, and then some winters we get blasted with several storms that drop a few feet at a time. RESton Peace is right about the ice, it's common to get that here in the winter and is much worse to deal with than snow. I'm not sure where you are from but get yourself used to living around people who are terrible drivers in snowy weather.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: come on folks ()
Date: August 07, 2006 08:23PM

Studded tires are okay from October 15 to April 15.

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+46.2-1044

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: Tim45 ()
Date: August 07, 2006 09:43PM

Do yourself a big favor when it snows any amount in this area it is best to stay home if you dont have to go out. The previous posts are correct, very few people know how to drive in snow around here.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: Snow Man ()
Date: August 07, 2006 09:48PM

Tim45 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Do yourself a big favor when it snows any amount
> in this area it is best to stay home if you dont
> have to go out. The previous posts are correct,
> very few people know how to drive in snow around
> here.


That's the type of attitude that creates the hysteria and craziness when the first flake falls. Get out and drive, do what you normally do and quit bitching about snow.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: kingOFgEEEks ()
Date: August 07, 2006 10:04PM

And that's the kind of reply that makes it obvious to those of us who know how to drive in the snow that you have no idea about how to properly do so.

Snow/ice changes the acceleration, steering, and braking of a vehicle severely. Even (especially) those in an 'invincible' SUV should drive very differently.


Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: Price ()
Date: August 07, 2006 10:13PM

AlenaC Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> new in town... how much snow do you usually get
> around here in the winter?
>
> during snow, are studded tires allowed here?
> (have a set of spare wheels
> mounted with studded tires on my '04 Volvo... used
> a couple of seasons,
> if they're not allowed here, I might as well sell
> the tires)

Winters here are not worth sudded tires. Even regular winter tires is an overkill unless you live in a very remote place or your driveway is on a slope. I drive audi and can recall only few occasions when quattro was necessary to concur the snow.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: TheMeeper ()
Date: August 07, 2006 10:18PM

kingOFgEEEks is right, Snow Man's arguement about "attitude" is wrong. I grew up driving on snowy roads...six inches of snow & ice were normal driving conditions and you just learned and exceled in it. When I moved to the DC area, it became real clear that alot of people here do not understand how 4-wheel vehicles operate in that environment. I've seen SUV's do 180's on the toll road at 50mph+ during storms, at times when you really shouldn't drive above 35. It's scary. I know how to drive in the worst of weather but I'm afraid to do it becuase of the way the other 'locals' drive.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: brianl703 ()
Date: August 07, 2006 11:08PM

I got lots of practice driving in the snow coming back from Pittsburgh. I got caught in a snowstorm and had to drive on I70 going no faster than 35MPH all the way from Breezewood, PA to well into Maryland.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: brianl703 ()
Date: August 07, 2006 11:09PM

A lot of those SUVs are RWD models which are actually pretty bad in the snow.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: MrDoctor ()
Date: August 07, 2006 11:25PM

awd is ur best bet

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: brianl703 ()
Date: August 07, 2006 11:36PM

Regardless, none of that shit actually helps you stop any faster in the snow, which is what most of the people in this area don't seem to grasp.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: crush crush get the yae yo ()
Date: August 07, 2006 11:54PM

oh its snows alot here, and it doesnt have to be winter...

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: Lurker ()
Date: August 08, 2006 10:42AM

1 Part Snow
1 Part Ice
1 Part People from Countries with Sand Storms
1 Part People who can't read road signs, illegals
1 Part People partying because they have the day off
1 Part Poor road design

Combine on highway = Mess

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: Fairfax MF-er ()
Date: August 08, 2006 10:49AM

As someone who spent most of my life in the Midwest and Mountain states, the snow here is nothing. Typically you get a handful of really good snows in a season. Last year I think we got two. The rest are flurries, etc. Once in a great while you will get a series of good snows in Jan/Feb, but that's pretty rare.

I strongly recommend the Metro or VRE if you have to go into DC on a snow day. Nobody here can drive in rain, much less snow.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: brianl703 ()
Date: August 08, 2006 10:50AM

Yes, it's amazing how everyone slams on their brakes as soon as it starts raining.

Where did these people learn to drive???????????

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: Skid Marky Mark ()
Date: August 08, 2006 12:32PM

We don't get that much snow here. As other posters have alluded to, though, that doesn't matter. A half inch pretty much shuts the area down. Actually, zero inches will do. All the weatherman has to say is "snow" and everybody drives to the closest grocery store to deplete it of (a) bread, (b) milk, and (c) water in exactly that order. And then they close schools for the next day "just in case." If it does snow, 49% of the folks around here will drive at exactly 15 mph with their hazard lights on, another 49% drive just like they always do (tailgating, speeding, not looking, yakking on phones, driving SUVs as though they're protected by invisible shields), and the remaining 2% know how to drive, but don't want to deal with the morons. Also, it takes only a 1/16" covering of snow before the SUVs start sliding off the roads, into trees and exploding. The entire area is covered in a dense smoke created from burning SUVs, their soccer mom occupants slowly roasting to death because they can't figure out what to do first: end their cell phone call, unbuckle themselves, or yell at Hunter and Ashleigh to quit screaming. This is basically true of rain. At the first drop, people slam on their brakes and start gazing skyward, amazed that water is actually falling out of the sky. At least this time, as the SUVs explode when they slam into the car in front of them, the rain tends to keep a damper on the smoke.

Virginia has enacted a few laws to try to make things easier during inclement weather. If the car in front of you is driving less than 20 mph in a light rain, or greater than 70 mph on a snow/ice cover road AND has a Maryland or DC plate, you are legally allowed to yank the driver out and beat them to death with a tire iron. Diplomatic plates are exempt for this, although you are allowed to fire a warning shot across their hood.

Hope this helps! Welcome to Virginia.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: KeepOnTruckin ()
Date: August 08, 2006 02:11PM

Truly, we can get a light dusting (really 1/16 of inch) and schools shut down and/or close early and/or start delayed. The news makes a big deal like 1 inch is going to be the blizzard of '96 and grocery stores, hardware stores, etc are all sold out and then 1 hour before it hits the news goes "whoops, its going to be a rainstorm" and everyone congradulates the new for making us be prepared.

If we get 8 inches or more at once, (once every 10 years) schools close for a week. Thats not to say we never get more than 8 inches. (Blizzard of '76[was it], blizzard of '96, what they called a blizzard of '02) Often times we get these systems called "Alberta Clippers" that give us about 1/16 to 5 inches of snow. And we'll get about 4 or so per winter. And every time people who have no idea how to drive in snow drive at excessive speeds because no one is on the road so they can speed b/c no one else is there. And then they crash.

Its a garuntee (sp) that every news station will have a reporter at a DOT sand/salt fill-up place doing a 'live' report on the whole brou-ha-ha.

People think their SUV's are invincible, not kidding, and they will go fast and unfortunatly only get injured because they sent a medevac helicopter to save them while the person that got a heart attack shoveling snow dies beacuse they cant get to hospital fast enough becase the ambulance got stuck in snow that was not plowed because the idiot DOT can't get it right.

If you have studded tires, I assume you know how to drive in snow, so I'd say put them on if we get A. ice storm B. more than 6 inches of snow. C. when everything refreezes the next day. Otherwise, use All Wether Radials or snow.
I have an AWD car. I have snow tires that I probably use once or twice a season, and otherwise use AWR. I just keep a look out for SUV's, minivans, and sports cars. (HAve seen all of those spin out/slide/crash)

If I have to get somwhere in a hurry (store to buy more food, etc, gas for generator, I go to an out of the way grocery like the gas station on Clifton rd south of the town and just keep a hand on the shifter to downshift if I have to. Lots of people have no idea what downshifting does.

Dirng down the hill on New Braddock rd 2 years ago during a snow day, saw SUV in right lane doing 90 easy (me about 35 mph) and she flies of the road, swerves around two streetlights, barly misses the 3rd, and clips the end of the bridge and just barely didn't kill HERself.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/09/2006 11:03AM by KeepOnTruckin.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: Lurker ()
Date: August 08, 2006 02:26PM

I agree on the SUV's, once they see snow hit it's like they think it's time to challenge and race everybody. No surprise, half of the SUV's end up wrecking or stuck in ditches.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: ferfux ()
Date: August 10, 2006 05:46PM

Well I drove a beetle wwhen I lived in Northwestern Ohio and had no problems driving in snowy conditions. Even with 4 foot drifting and ice. I mean come on people! If my trusty bizzeatle can handle northwestern winter conditions you should be able to handle ice, snow and whatever else piddly weather here throws at you!

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: ferfux ()
Date: October 09, 2012 07:26PM

Almanac says we are in for a colder than average winter and a more than average snowfall amount. SNOW PACOLYPSE 2012-2013!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: Mrs. Frost ()
Date: October 09, 2012 08:21PM

Prepare now to shelter in place. Go to your local grocery store and begin clearing shelves of the following:

- bottled water
- milk
- bread
- toilet paper
- ice melt
- snow shovels

When you notice snowflakes:

- put your hazards on
- drive at least ten mph under the posted speed limit
- figure out which heavily traveled road (ideally a marked snow emergency route) you might abandon your vehicle
- if you have FCPS children, call the school to inquire what the individual's school plan will be for snow. Speak to the principal, if you must.
- collect your FCPS children immediately - the front office staff will understand and appreciate your concern
- remember - if road travel is treacherous while you are driving, simply stop your vehicle. No need to pull to the shoulder. This will encourage other drivers to do the same and make our roads safer.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: Ifyouhavekids ()
Date: October 09, 2012 10:13PM

If you have kids be prepared because they close the schools for the threat of ice and snow. Ive seen schools close when the main parts of the roads are just wet black pavement and less than an inch of snow on the grass. Also you will get to see many people born in other countries driving on any tracks in the snow on the road - including oncoming traffic (yes I have seen this).

Good luck and fill her up when snow is called for cause a 1/2 commute can turn into a 4 hour commute very easily here

enjoy

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: just a thought ()
Date: October 09, 2012 10:32PM

the dude posted that in 06, i'm sure he figured it out.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: still not clear ()
Date: October 09, 2012 10:46PM

just a thought Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> the dude posted that in 06, i'm sure he figured it
> out.


I'm still not sure. Does it snow around here?

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: Snow! ()
Date: January 20, 2016 10:38AM

still not clear Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> I'm still not sure. Does it snow around here?

We will finally find out this weekend!

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: new in town... how much snow do you usually get around here in the winter?
Posted by: History ()
Date: January 21, 2016 01:05AM

Last year we had one storm that required shoveling.

And six snow days.

Options: ReplyQuote


Your Name: 
Your Email (Optional): 
Subject: 
Attach a file
  • No file can be larger than 75 MB
  • All files together cannot be larger than 300 MB
  • 30 more file(s) can be attached to this message
Spam prevention:
Please, enter the code that you see below in the input field. This is for blocking bots that try to post this form automatically.
 ********        **  **     **  **     **  **     ** 
    **           **  **     **  **     **  **     ** 
    **           **  **     **  **     **  **     ** 
    **           **  *********  *********  **     ** 
    **     **    **  **     **  **     **   **   **  
    **     **    **  **     **  **     **    ** **   
    **      ******   **     **  **     **     ***    
This forum powered by Phorum.