We’ve been accused of being overly obsessed with on this site. We just want you to be safe, how dare we? (Imagine me saying this with as much motherly Catholic guilt as possible.) I will admit with a dash of shame, however, that last year we had such a warm winter in Detroit that I didn’t bother to put snowshoes on my Volkswagen TDI Sportwagen. I kept waiting and waiting for it to get cold enough to justify running up to the tire shop, but it just never happened. They sat in the garage for months, a rubbery monument erected in honor of a warming planet.

This year may be different, however. One of our new writers, Mercedes Streeter, saw snow on the ground this morning at her place in Illinois. We’ve had a few flurries here in Detroit as well. It’s looking like climate change isn’t doing me solid this year, so I’ll end up back at the tire shop before too long. Although with social distancing and lockdown due to COVID-19, I’m driving less than ever, so is it really worth it?

Not all of us are lazy blogger shut-ins like myself — some of you have to go out into the wintry wilderness on the daily with your vehicles. So what about you? Are you bothering with snow tires this year? Do you do all four wheels or just the ones that count for stopping/starting power? Are you planning on sneaking by on all-seasons? (It’s OK, this is a safe space to admit your faults.)