Last couple winters I was dating a girl with a cabin in the White Mountains. I have a similar car, a 2010 Corolla, and put snow tires on in the winter. I grew up in southern NH so I have decent winter driving experience.
90% of the drives up and back were fine, but there were 2-3 nights I remember super clearly, where those northern highways were completely black-iced over, and going down the hills even at ~30mph was extremely dangerous. I seriously lost 100% traction and almost spun into a guard rail a few times coming out of the single-lane notch by Cannon/Lincoln, NH on route 93. Luckily I was taking it super cautiously and caught spins before they got nasty.
This storm looks like it could make one of those nights. Lots of rain and wet snow, with temps plunging below freezing once the sun sets. Be extremely careful, and slow down a LOT before going down a hill so you can test your breaks a bit. Watch for black ice and take hints from the other drivers in cars like you. Don't necessarily trust that all the roads in the Whites will be well-salted or well maintained. And if the conditions are bad enough, head back to where you came from and adjust your trip by a day or two on either end. If you can, drive during the day too. Good luck!
JoshGordon10 t1_j1aidlv wrote
Reply to comment by solar_powered_wind in Helpful graphic from NWS about the upcoming storm by ndiorio13
Last couple winters I was dating a girl with a cabin in the White Mountains. I have a similar car, a 2010 Corolla, and put snow tires on in the winter. I grew up in southern NH so I have decent winter driving experience.
90% of the drives up and back were fine, but there were 2-3 nights I remember super clearly, where those northern highways were completely black-iced over, and going down the hills even at ~30mph was extremely dangerous. I seriously lost 100% traction and almost spun into a guard rail a few times coming out of the single-lane notch by Cannon/Lincoln, NH on route 93. Luckily I was taking it super cautiously and caught spins before they got nasty.
This storm looks like it could make one of those nights. Lots of rain and wet snow, with temps plunging below freezing once the sun sets. Be extremely careful, and slow down a LOT before going down a hill so you can test your breaks a bit. Watch for black ice and take hints from the other drivers in cars like you. Don't necessarily trust that all the roads in the Whites will be well-salted or well maintained. And if the conditions are bad enough, head back to where you came from and adjust your trip by a day or two on either end. If you can, drive during the day too. Good luck!