Looking for Help - Winter Driving Tips

DrHuk&Duck

DrHuk&Duck

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Looking for some advice from some of you with cold weather experience. I have a short business trip coming up later this week/weekend and it’s going to take me into the northern Georgia mountains with snow expected up to four inches or more. As a guy who grew up near the Charleston area and has spent the past couple decades in Florida, my snow driving experience is almost zero, and my snow-in-mountains experience is literally zero. The good thing is I’ll be mostly confined to the major roads and highway. Also, although I’ll be north of Atlanta and in the mountains, I won’t be in the much higher elevations, just around an hour or so north of Atalanta.

Any tips would be appreciated. I do have a couple questions:

1. Are the highways salted before the snow and does it help much? Can “black ice” still occur with salt down?

2. At what speed and/or conditions do you recommend 4wd?

3. Recommendations for braking and car distance in snow conditions.
 
1. Are the highways salted before the snow and does it help much? Can “black ice” still occur with salt down?

It depends. I can't speak for how they do things in Georgia but around here, the city puts down magnesium chloride (mag chloride) before it snows. It will definitely delay the roads from freezing up unless there is heavy snow/sleet... All bets are off then.

Black ice tends to form after sundown when snow and ice that has melted during the day refreezes.

Hopefully, plows will keep the roads clear. If the plows are spreading gravel, so much the better.

I can't overemphasize that road conditions will be most hazardous if the pavement is wet then refreezes after sundown. Pay attention to temperatures throughout the day. Roads will be at their worst when temperatures hover around 30-33 degrees because at those temps, ice doesn't melt quickly nor does water freeze quickly, therefore, there will be a thin layer of water sitting on the ice.

2. At what speed and/or conditions do you recommend 4wd?

4WD or two, don't drive any faster than you are comfortable driving. If you're nervous, slow down.

3. Recommendations for braking and car distance in snow conditions.

You should increase your following distance by twice or more, assuming you already maintain a 3-4 second following distance in ideal conditions. In heavy traffic, that may be difficult as many will treat increased following distance as an invite to pull in front of you.

Whether breaking or accelerating, keep a light foot. Keep your eyes moving; make sure you are aware of everything out to at least 15 seconds ahead of you. If you need to slow down, take your foot off of the accelerator and don't be quick to hit the breaks. Adjust your speed well before any curves. Again, if you aren't comfortable with a particular speed, slow down (gradually).

Different kinds of snow presents different driving conditions. Powdery snow that hasn't been driven in is the easiest. Slushy snow is more difficult especially if you can't touch pavement. Compact snow is an ice rink.

Also, as much as you can, either keep your tires on bare pavement or snow that is broken up.
 
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abcaines said:
I can't overemphasize that road conditions will be most hazardous if the pavement is wet then refreezes after sundown. Pay attention to temperatures throughout the day. Roads will be at their worst when temperatures hover around 30-33 degrees because at those temps, ice doesn't melt quickly nor does water freeze quickly, therefore, there will be a thin layer of water sitting on the ice.
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Oh boy…right now temperatures are expected between 30 - 35 degrees with freezing rain and/or snow conditions when I’ll be on the road. And as for snow type, I’m so unfamiliar with snow that I completely forgot there are different types of snow! 😅 Anyway, thanks for the advice. Hopefully they’ll have the roads clear and salted when I’m driving through.
 
DrHuk&Duck said:
Oh boy…right now temperatures are expected between 30 - 35 degrees with freezing rain and/or snow conditions when I’ll be on the road.
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Well, there's no driving on ice . . . period, but at those temperatures icy roads shouldn't be much of a problem except on the bridges. Unless the roads are treated solid ice sheets can form on the bridges instantly in freezing rain. It will also accumulate on your windshield and wipers.

The biggest road hazard, as always, is other drivers. So try to keep as much distance between you and them as you can.

God is the one who sends the weather, and whomever you may come into contact with, so an earnest prayer for traveling mercies may be in order. :)
 
Ekklesian said:
Well, there's no driving on ice . . . period, but at those temperatures icy roads shouldn't be much of a problem except on the bridges. Unless the roads are treated solid ice sheets can form on the bridges instantly in freezing rain. It will also accumulate on your windshield and wipers.
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That’s true. Even in parts of Florida they have signs saying “bridge ices before roads,” but I’ve never really worried about it because it’s so rare to see those temperatures here, and normally I’d be off the road anyway in those rare conditions in Florida.
 
I've lived my entire life in the Cincinnati area - so we gets lots of snow and have lots of hills.

Best advice is to plan ahead - for both braking and accelerating, and give yourself lots of space. Use a light foot on both brake pedal and gas pedal. If I'm approaching a red light, especially on a hill, I ease off the gas to slow to a crawl hoping to eliminate the need to come to a complete stop. Maintaining movement for when the light turns green is better than coming to a stop and then trying to get going again. Also, don't switch lanes in turns (also a good idea on dry pavement).

4wd is useful for getting the vehicle moving, but useless for getting it stopped - so don't think 4wd means you can drive faster than 2wd.
 
After all of that, it looks like we’re going to settle for temporarily doing a Zoom meeting due to the concern over driving conditions for people coming from different regions. Thanks anyway for the driving tips. They might still get put to use in February.
 
abcaines said:
It looks like cancelling the trip to Georgia was a wise move.

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Yes. People in the Deep South have a meltdown when it snows a couple inches. Down where I live in Florida, the most I’ve ever seen is snow flurries on one occasion about ten years ago or so. However, I might still have to go up to the northern Atlanta metro area within the next month, so I might still have to put those snow driving tips to use. I got out of this trip, but I won’t get out of two.
 
DrHuk&Duck said:
Yes. People in the Deep South have a meltdown when it snows a couple inches. Down where I live in Florida, the most I’ve ever seen is snow flurries on one occasion about ten years ago or so. However, I might still have to go up to the northern Atlanta metro area within the next month, so I might still have to put those snow driving tips to use. I got out of this trip, but I won’t get out of two.
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Hopefully, weather will be greatly improved.

On another note, I'm to understand that a cold winter is beneficial to the peach crop there.
 
This drone footage will give you an idea of how Steinhatchee looked after the hurricane.

Suwanee was hit pretty hard as well, but the difference is most of Suwanee is composed of lots with giant RV carports that people can easily move their RV out to higher ground. Steinhatchee is mostly made of permanent structures.

 
Like I told an Amish friend recently - while it's snowing be careful because of the weather itself. After it stops, be careful because of the unexpected.
Ditto to the good advice already provided.
 
i saw this the other day on virtual rail fan.... .i know next to nothing about driving
in winter conditions... .. but it would seem from this video that if you find yourself
driving in snow.... you are approaching a set of railroad tracks with a train coming🚂
- and warning lights are already flashing ...plus your wheels are spinning due to poor
traction. .....you probably should just stop and make no attempt to cross the
tracks anyway.... :unsure:... .... ..just my opinion of course..... .:sneaky:

 
Yeah, and if road conditions were that bad, he should have stopped sooner so he didn't end up on the tracks.

Early on when I got my licence, thanks to an out-of-town girlfriend, I could have said that virtually all my driving experience was solo, at night, on the highway, in the winter--all conditions that make a lot of more experienced drivers nervous. These days, I don't own a car and I'm more of a casual driver, so there's not anything anymore that I can really offer as far as advice goes. I don't even drive on the freeway that goes through Ottawa. It makes me nervous.
 
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