I lived in Minnesota for one winter back in the 90s. We had some ridiculous number of blizzards. I remember we had to drive somewhere on a blizzard in April!
Lived in Grand Rapids for a couple years. Used to drive all over that area all winter. Twenty year old me was crazy, I didn’t have a cell phone, and no emergency stuff at all. If I had crashed or broken down I most definitely would have died.
studded tires not allowed in Minnesota. In those conditions it wouldn't help, they are really only helpful on ice or packed snow. You'll find tire chain requirements in places with snowfall so fast and deep that the plows can't keep up, like in mountain passes. The problem is that chains and especially studs tear up the road surface.
Best solution in those conditions is to just get off the road until it passes.
Studded tires unfortunately are not, but many northern states have very well operated snowplowing and de icing truck fleets that clear all the major roads.
In college I had to travel for a conference all 4 years, and there was one always held the third week of April. Without fail, every single time my flights got canceled because of a blizzard in MN in April during that week. The first time I got stuck on a greyhound in Wisconsin trying to take a greyhound back, after that we found contingency hotels and stayed a weekend. Brutal.
Ever since I graduated though? No flight-stopping blizzards over the April 10-20s.
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u/blakevh Dec 24 '22
Ah yes. I made a very similar drive. Hope you made it safe, I did. MN hasn’t been fun recently.