Winter Tires in Kelowna - Are they needed?

[BokCh0y]

I haven't spent much time in Kelowna during the fall/winter months - October to April but I know it does snow there. Do you guys know how much snow Kelowna receives and if winter tires are required or are all season tires fine? Not sure if the snow just melts on the roads or if they do plowing and stuff like Calgary and the extent of the snow. I've not spent any winter time in Kelowna at all.

Appreciate some feedback so I know if I have to pick up some winter tires or not. If I need to then I need to.

Thanks!!!

[adamc]

Yes.

[BokCh0y]

Originally posted by adamc
Yes.

Uh...take that as a yes, I need to buy winter rubbers.

Thanks adamc.

[01RedDX]

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[eglove]

http://www.currentresults.com/Weathe...n-averages.php

[codetrap]

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[relyt92]

No winter experience there, but Kelowna seems like the kind of place that would be well suited to a performance winter, or one of the Nokian all weather tires. Still gets you the snowflake rating to keep everything legit but also handles the dry roads fine.

[BokCh0y]

Thanks for the responses. I'm pretty set on picking up a set of winters for Kelowna anyway just to be safe.

And thanks in particular eglove, that's a handy site.

I did do some researching and it sounds like the winters are not as cold as Calgary but not as warm as van, somewhere in between. Good thing is I can put the winters on basically towards the end of Oct and take them off in April, much better than what I've been doing in Calgary - Oct 1 to May 30th haha.

[tirebob]

Originally posted by codetrap
Winter tires are not required by law in Kelowna, but they are on all the highways around it...

And as per egloves post, they're not just for snow, but for cold temperatures, the amount of snow is irrelevant.

Actually, in BC, a tire does not need to be a dedicated winter tire as by their own regulations, the tire required in those area must have the mountain and snowflake symbol OR be marked with an M+S... All season tires are marked M+S. Only dedicated summer tires are not.

http://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/dri...bc_handout.pdf

That said I would suggest winters in Kelowna. Their winters are not as long and severe as ours, but they absolutely get hit here and there...

[CompletelyNumb]

I wouldn't say they are needed in the city. Absolutely needed if you plan on leaving it though.

[NoPulp]

Within the city, no you don't need winter tires. I drove with summer tires in my truck all winter a couple of years ago.

If you want to leave kelowna you NEED winter tires.


That being said they had a horrible winter recently...

[adamc]

I spent about 20 years growing up in Kelowna. We always had snow tires on all of our vehicles, and sand bags in the trunk.

Kelowna gets a lot of snow, and unless you're only travelling on the downtown core streets, you're going to see a lot of it on the road.

The neighbourhood where I grew up almost never gets plowed until a few days after a snowfall.

[Cos]

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[BokCh0y]

I got a set, thanks for the info everyone. I'm all for winter tires, this just confirms what is needed in Kelowna.

[hrdkore]

http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/tr...itish-columbia

[NoPulp]

It snowed once or twice that it actually stuck on the ground when I was there...

[adamc]

Cool story!

[tirebob]

Originally posted by hrdkore
http://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/tr...itish-columbia

That is a bit misleading in that BC considers all season to qualify as a winter tire...

I picked up on that last time I drove to BC this past summer when all the winter tire signs showed that M&S designation was acceptable. I looked it up and found this...

http://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/dri...bc_handout.pdf

It says right in there that all season tires are to be considered winter capable. I disagree, but that doesn't take away from the fact that in BC, true, exclusive winter tires are not a requirement...

[reiRei]

I live in Kelowna, this was a snowstorm in January of this year:




I run on studded winter tires because I travel on the highway quite often. We are required to have M+S or Snowflake tires on the main highway (Hwy 97).

Winters are very different here than in Calgary, Calgary get super cold and super snowy, but in Kelowna it's feels more humid, and yes, it may be warmer, the snow does stick around when it does come.

[atgilchrist]

My driveway last January after a dump:


To be fair, if you're staying in town, decent all seasons would be likely fine, but any highway requires winters.