Admittedly this advice might come a little late for those of you stuck in the path of SNOWPOCALYPSE and SNOWPOCALYPSE II: The Quickening. Nonetheless, if you can get to a outdoor supply store I strongly recommend that you seek out a pair of gaiters to keep snow off your feet. Mine look like the pair below, but you can choose any kind as long as you don’t get cheap skier models with no heel strap.
My Honda Fit is comfortably burrowed in an alley that might get plowed in March, so I’m walking around a lot. Thanks to gaiters in the last few days Dr. Mrs. Dr. F and I have waded through waist-deep snow for hours with warm, happy toes. Boots are nice but not critical; today I wore gaiters over leather dress-y shoes on the way to work.
Tip #2: Car floor mats do more than protect the factory carpet. If you get stuck spinning your wheels, kick or dig out the small hill of snow that has built up in front of your drive tires. If that works, great! If not, take out your back floor mats and lay them under your primary drive wheels in the direction that you want to go. The traction boost gained by this little trick will amaze you. I rescued four cars with the floor mat trick just walking around this weekend.
Maude
Gaiters used to used a long time ago. They are wondrous. They look good, too.
Alan
When I was a little kid I remember wearing galoshes over my shoes. I don’t think anyone wears those anymore.
Maude
Posted twice, oops.
Pixie
Hey these look really cool. I’m playing Mass Effect 2 right now and they kind of look like something my character would wear. Needless to say, I’m going to get some!
KS in MA
Yup. And Yak Trax (on your boots, that is) for ice.
Keith
Sarah Palin has those in patent leather.
Bret
It’s 65 degrees here in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona.
Comrade Kevin
Are they special gaiters?
Zach
The floor mat trick is brilliant. I have an Impreza so I just weakened the wall of snow between my car and the street and got the snow out of my tail pipe and wheels and plowed through, but I might spread the gospel of mats around as well.
RedKitten
Nice idea about the floor mat trick. I’ll have to remember that one. Also a nice idea about the gaiters — I have a pair for when we hike in wet weather, but it never occurred to me to wear them in snow. Mind you, part of that is probably because I just wear my ugly Kamik men’s boots all winter.
And no, I don’t wear men’s boots because I have big feet. I only wear a women’s size 8. I wear men’s boots because women’s boots only come up to mid-calf, and if I’m going out in deep snow I want a tall boot — the men’s ones come up to just under my knees, which is perfect.
Bell Curve
Or you could live in L.A. That works too.
AhabTRuler
I once tried that trying to get my ’81 ‘Vette (ok, Chevette) out of a long jump pit (long story).
They still haven’t landed.
daniel thomas macinnes
Here’s a very easy car tip from Minnesota: Go to the hardware store and buy a couple 10lb. bags of sand. Put those in the trunk of your car. Those sandbags will add weight to the rear of the vehicle and help prevent spinning and sliding all over the road. This is especially crucial with smaller vehicles, which will be tossed around like pinballs when the ground turns to ice.
Also, make sure you have emergency supplies in your car. That includes the emergency road kit, the spare tire, flares, shovel, rock salt, and warm blankets for the back seat. You want to be prepared in case you become stuck off the roads.
Also, DON’T SLAM THE BRAKES!! Pump the brakes, slowwwwly. If you’re not sure how to drive in winter weather, either stay home, take the bus, or find someone with a Sega Saturn and play Sega Rally Championship. Better yet, watch game videos on Youtube – that’s how you drive in the snow. Honest.
I hope this helps. Take care and enjoy the snow days. You’ll get to sleep in tomorrow.
Zach
@daniel thomas macinnes:
Unless you have ABS like 99% of drivers, that is? Just don’t go fast enough where you have to brake if you’re rocking 2 wheel drive. If the added friction of moving snow isn’t slowing you down you’re probably doing it wrong.
As it is, I’ve had a good time emulating Sega Rally Championship the last two days, but I’m also driving the same sort of car! There’s so much snow in Baltimore that you can really screw around with impunity… snow drifts up against cars are equivalent to bumper bowling.
That said, I’m not digging my car out for this next blizzard until the snow melts.
Dirk
Game done change. Got more fierce.
Zach
@Dirk:
A city bus got stuck outside my building today and simultaneously blocked traffic in all three directions. I’m pretty sure a number of folks happening upon that trying to get somewhere went, “shiiiiiiiiiiiit.” Because life here is exactly like that show. Exactly.
Mister Colorful Analogy
I have the OR GoreTex (i.e. semi-breathable) version of these gaiters, and they work great. I use them for snowshoeing and for working in deep snow around the house. An added advantage of gaiters is that they are small enough to pack along on hiking trips where the conditions could be mixed.
You can also use them in muddy/wet/dusty conditions, and also for protection when bushwhacking.
(cue comments on the last word in 3…2…1…)
Anyway, if you ever find yourself in snow that is deeper than the top of your boots, you’ll love gaiters.
Mr. CA
Yutsano
I have to be honest, when I saw this post I thought that John had finally bought Lily her little tootsie booties.
TooManyJens
@AhabTRuler:
We’ve got time.
brantl
Of course, the floor mats may be shit, after that……
Barbara
When I was a wee girl and lived not far from where John does now, our trunk was stocked all winter with the following: two sizable pieces of carpet remnant (in lieu of floor mats, which are often too flimsy) and a big bag of sand (to weight the car down and to provide traction as well) and a shovel (to distribute the sand, and to dig one’s self and others out of parking lots or similar predicaments).
In the winter of 1976-77 my father had a nervous break down and lost his job, and we had so much snow, and such cold temperatures that our schools closed for two weeks because the barges were stuck on the river and couldn’t supply dedicated school power plants. I learned how to drive that winter. We were so stir crazy (nothing like a bipolar formerly workaholic dad let loose in your house during the greatest freeze of your childhood to drive you completely bonkers) — so we walked several miles to stores (which took hours and hours out of the day) and otherwise hunkered down by playing cards at night. When I am tempted to complain about this weather, that’s what I try to think about.
Steeplejack
I have been thinking about getting some of those pull-on snow spikes that go over whatever shoes you are wearing. I am in the belly of the Snowpocalypse (Fairfax County, VA), and over the last week (and during the big storm in December) I have realized that none of my shoes are very good in the snow: regular shoes, running shoes, L.L. Bean boots. By which I mean none of them get very good traction, and I slip around a lot. And in my immediate area sidewalks are intermittent or an afterthought, so there’s a lot of snow walking.
Of course, with the additional 10-20″ of snow we’re supposed to get in the next 24 hours on top of the 20-30″ inches we got Friday-Saturday, maybe I should be thinking about snowshoes. Or cross-country skis.
An inch of snow today will make this the second-snowiest winter in D.C. history (46-47″, and we only need 6-8″, I think, to top the worst winter ever (1898-99). Good times.
Barbara
I bought my daughter the following boots as a Christmas present:
http://www.jcrew.com/AST/Browse/WomenBrowse/Women_Shop_By_Category/shoes/weatherboots/PRDOVR~19680/19680.jsp
They are awesome — if you wear thermal socks they will keep your feet warm and dry, and they are high enough to keep out most of the snow.
Tim F.
@Barbara: Those work well unless the snow builds up higher than her calf, like it has around here.
REN
Be careful you don’t stand directly behind the wheels where you put those floormats. Unlike sand or kitty litter a movable item will shoot out from under those tires if it’s slippery enough.You might just rip up your brand new gaiters. I have seen this done with plywood and watched as it shot out from under the car with enough force to really hurt someone. And a frozen floor mat can be pretty stiff.
twiffer
this is why i bought a forester: i live on the side of hill, in new england.
sand in the trunk is a good tip and essential if you have rear-wheel drive. i also keep one of those small, collapsible snow shovels in the trunk too.