Hi folks,
I'll be driving to Charlotte on the last week of March for a weeks vacation. I'm wondering if I should leave the snow tires on, or if I can switch back to summer tires? PA guys, I'm looking at you in particular - what do you think? I'll be driving along I81.
Thanks,
Paul
Keep the snows on. If you switch them out for summer tires you will guaranty an ice storm, if you switch to all seasons you will bring a snow storm inversely proportional to how much tread they have.
All kidding aside, your not in the clear in PA until after the first week of april.
I am towing across PA to Mid-Ohio for 3 days of hoonage in the last week of March and I won't be wearin' no snow tires on the rig.
Yup, March is totally unpredictable here. Being that Feb has been so warm and snow-free, I expect March to be a nightmare.
That reminds me...need to nag the wife again about moving to Arizona.
At the end of March? No need for snows, you'll be fine. We can get snow in mid-March, but that's pretty rare. By the end of March, we're usually completely done. At that point, even if it does snow, it's usually the stuff that only sticks to grass, not the roads.
A true summer tire or a regular performance type radial? Like ddavidv said it's a little unpredictable here in March. We've had snow in the beginning of April in the south-east corner of the state before.
My Kumho ECSTA ASX's do pretty well with light PA snow. Heavier stuff I default to a 4x4.
years ago, I helped some friends of mine move to oklahoma. We loaded up a 24 foot Penske truck and hitched a 12 foot uhaul trailer to the back of it (think about that a moment) and headed headed off.
To avoid huge tolls on the PA turnpike with such a rig, we went down to maryland and turned right. When we got into West Virginia, we got caught in the very last snowstorm/blizzard of the season. As we hit each county, the signs were lighting off saying "chains required"
My buddy wanted to stop, but I pushed on knowing that if we stopped, we would be stuck for a few days. It got to the point where I was going slow and relying on the 3d imagry on the GPS to alert me to the upcoming turns on the road.
We made it.. even if we had to turn north and enter PA at the south Western Corner.
Point being.. it was late march (already technically spring) and we got caught in a major storm that blanketed the south western corner of PA, most of West Virgina and almost none of ohio. Weather is a weird thing
Back in '97 or '98 on march 31st which was a Sunday, it was in the seventies sunny and generally beautiful spring like conditions in the Philly suburbs. I decided to go for a motorcycle ride to visit some friends that live in the Lehigh valley , just south of the Delaware water gap. While we were having drinks at a local pub that evening , the news was on with a winter storm warning for the next day.
I spent the night at my friends house, and got up at dawn to ride home ahead of the storm. Within 3 miles an ice storm started, in another few minutes it started snowing like it mentioned it. I immediately turned around to back to my friends house. By the time it got back it was a white- out! That was April first, and it snowed 5 inches that day. It all melted by noon the next day.
That's spring in PA. Consider yourself warned.
Thanks guys - I think I'll keep the snows on - just to be safe.
Went to college in Western MD, currently in Pittsburgh..
This winter has not shown any teeth, I dont think it will start to. I wouldnt be too worried.
That sad, I did have one trip from West MD to Pitt this year that we we found 79 to be a SOLID sheet of ice as apparently PA dosent understand that they should salt when roads are wet and the temperature is dropping.
But seriously, worst ever case, you stop for the night and have a hotel room.
MadMachine: you have to be talking about 68 to 79.. yeah, that stuff strikes sometimes, but this isnt the rockies.. Stuff will be cleared by the next morning typically (although MD is a world better about clearing it then WV, dont ask on PA) I have a friend who travels every week from Cumberland to Morgantown and generally isnt stopped by anything for more then a night. (meaning, put off the trip for a day, its coming down)
I usually leave my snows on until well into April. It's not unheard of to get ridiculous blizzards in March, even later in the month. Plus there's the rule that as soon as you put the summer tires on there will be snow.
Thought with the winter we've been having, it might be 90* and humid by the end of March 
