Winter tires, or “Snow Tires” as they are called often, are pretty much a necessity living in Northern Vermont. I mean, you can get by without them – but it is not advised. They have these tires called “All-Season Tires” but they are really just glorified summer tires with a little extra tread. For us cold weather climate professionals, that ain’t gonna cut it.

Sure, you can get by on “all seasons”. I actually did for years and years – but the thing was, that was back in the day where I lived less than 2 miles from my place of employment and every road I traveled was paved. As time progressed and I bought a house out of town this became less possible. I still lived in direct civilization and not out in the boonies - meaning it was all still paved roads for me to travel – but now my commute had bumped up to 20 miles one way just to get into the office each day. Much of this travel is by highway. The interstate system and the State of Vermont does a pretty good job of keeping the interstates nice and clear – at least in the right lane – during snowstorms, but you cannot rely on this alone. You need winter tires if you want to stay on the road!

Now, having winter tires is still no guarantee that you will stay on the road. Ice is a tricky little bugger, and they still haven’t made a tire that is ice resistant. Picture yourself walking briskly across the ice of a hockey arena in tennis shoes. Practically impossible. That is what driving on ice is like. If a body is moving at a constant speed in a straight line, it will continue to keep moving in a straight line at a constant speed unless it is acted upon by a force. Driving in Vermont in the wintertime is basically defying the laws of inertia. Of course, you can walk across the ice slip free if you are wearing metal spikes on your feet just fine – but they still don’t have spiked tires. That just sounds like a recipe for disaster. They have studded tires which are similar to spikes, but they are still not 100% slip free. What I am saying is - driving on ice is basically a risk at best. In the snow, however, having good ol’ winter treads make one a hell of a difference. Imagine walking through thick mud with bare feet verses walking through that same mud with boots on. That is kind of how that works. All season tires are just like tennis shoes, they’ve got some tread but are really more like bare feet than boots. It’s best to have boots in the winter.

For our vehicles, those boots come in the form of heavily treaded tires called “Winter Tires” - though common slang around here is calling them “Snow Tires”. So that is what you hear frequently starting in around October or so up north.

“Got your snow tires on yet?”

“My snow tires from last year were still pretty good, gonna get another season out of ‘em.”

“I just got 4 new snow tires and they were expensive!”

We don’t tend to call them winter tires by habit but, we probably should. I would sure hate to have 4 tires made out of snow installed on my car one day just because I called them by the wrong name.

That is today’s cartoon folk. Watch out for false advertising and drive safely out there. As always, thank you for checking out my cartoons and please share them with your friends that you think will also enjoy them. I will be back on Wednesday for the next installment.

Cheers,

~tod