A new test drive on my 2008 package 6 Chicago style

Hi Ct...,

How do you like that fog out there now. Kinda like driving clouds tonight.

Luckily I have been on vacation and have missed driving in much of this 123456 punch weather we have since just after I started my vacation...

 

Cars stuck at an exit ramp? Ice on the roads? A salt truck in the ditch? How can that be in Chicago?

Here in snow-bound Seattle, local mythology has it that other cities are able to keep the roads so clear of snow and ice during a winter storm that one can practically roller blade to work!!

Despite many streets that are snow-packed by design instead of actually cleared (yeah, really); my 2007 Touring was able to get me up and down Seattle's hills to the places I truly needed to go. The Prius never got stuck, despite my not having snow tires or chains. I used to think I didn't have room to store another set of tires, but I'm rethinking that. As for the chains I bought 2 years ago, when I finally needed them they wouldn't fit despite the label that says they are supposed to.

I did have to dig out of some street parking spaces in order to give the ESC (or is it TRAC) a little bare pavement to work with; and I did get stuck briefly in an unplowed grocery store parking lot.

It helped to plan trips carefully to avoid the city's steepest hills, but again, my Prius proved as reliable in the snow as it is in the rain.

 

Hi Prianista,

I do not think CT... was commenting on the Prius fitness for driving in winter at all. It was the conditions we had yesterday morning were the worse for driving in about 20 or 30 years. Occaisonally and overpass or ramp will get glazed with black ice here. But, the widspread nature of that occurence yesterday was unprecedented, here. The fact that CT... got through that situation without crashing, or even denting his car if anything, speaks volumes positive for the Prius in winter.

Christmas morning was 4 F out here in the western burbs where CT... drove too. Then overnight Christmas to Friday we had freezing rain. With all the road surfaces cold soaked from the previous day, they just froze. This kinda extreme change in a day is unusual here. If its 4 F, one day, its probably below 10 F for the rest of the week and sunny in usual weather. We have been getting targeted by the Arizona flow, and then the Alberta flow alternately for the past two weeks. And its like a switch from day to day.

Right now, its been raining for 12 hours, and the temps are in the mid 40's F. I was awakened by a Thunderstorm in fact. This is probably similar to Seatle, I guess. So, for the past three days we have gone from typical late January weather to typical early April weather.

 

Hello ctbearing and donee,

I didn't mean to be critical at all of the Prius in my post. I was heartened to read that the Prius, as ct put it, has "the right stuff" in such treacherous condidtions. I believe that my own Prius showed "the right stuff" in Seattle's snowfall, despite a lack of chains or snow tires.

Instead, I was trying to poke fun at what I see as a developing mythology here in Seattle, that Seattle is the only major city in the country that has trouble clearing snow and ice from the streets. According to the mythology I see here, other cities use a miracle drug called "salt" on their streets and therefore drivers in those cities are never troubled by slipping or sliding. (Seattle doesn't use salt, prefering de-icers that are more environmentally friendly)

Safe travels to you both,

Prianista

 

Hi Prianista,

To continue on with how weird the weather is here right now. We matched a record high of 61 F in Chicagoland yesterday. So, luckily there has been no problem clearing snow and ice, there has been some flooding due to the 2 inches of rain, and 2 inches of rain equivalent snow depth on the ground melting. I can see the grass out my window this morning where a day and a half ago it was 15 inches of snow.