Well, over here in Western Washington, we're not as cold as you on the East side of the state, but we've gotten into the habit of putting studless snow tires on the cars in November and off maybe in March. While it's not as cold over here, we're pretty hilly, and if it snows, melts and refreezes, then the ice can be bad. All season tires just don't cut it on the hills with ice, or with thick wet snow. We've had Blizzak's (WS60, WS70, WS80) on mostly alloy wheels (one set is on steel rims), and I just put them on/off myself. I've gotten really good jacking up the cars. I've purchased all of these from Tire Rack - the only problem is finding enough room in the garage to store the tires!