This past Monday the wife and I were headed home to Phoenix from Las Vegas from a 4-day jaunt. We knew of an incoming storm and the NWS forecasts for the previous 24-hrs was telling us the storm should hit Northern Arizona about 12PM to 1PM on Monday. So, we leave LV at 8AM knowing we should be south of Kingman, AZ and at a lower elevation by 9:30 AM. (Kingman, AZ sits at 4000-ft elevation. Flagstaff, AZ [60 miles away sits at 7500-ft, and the highest point in AZ just outside Flagstaff sits at 10,400-ft) About halfway between Hoover Dam and Kingman, in the middle of nowhere, we ran into the storm. The storm was several hours early! We hit rain for about 2-minutes, then rain/snow mix for another couple minutes, then pure snow. We had 30 miles yet to go before we reached Kingman - and civilization! Bear in mind that us southern-Arizonites are not that familiar with winter driving. As we pressed on snow on the road got deeper. Quickly the left lane of the 2-lane highway became completely covered and the right lane was covered with nothing but snow ruts carved by each vehicle's tires. Traffic kept moving so we decided to keep moving with it and see how far we got. About 15-miles further down the road traffic came to a stop. I figured this is where we were going to sit until somebody came by to pick us up. A few minutes later traffic started to move again. We finally made it to Kingman and I immediately pulled off into a hotel figuring we might as well hunker down for the night. The snow level in Kingman as a bit less than it was back out on US 95. I figured by the time the traffic stopped, there was about 4-inches on the road. I say this becuase the Prius has about a 5-inch ground clearance and distinctly remember hearing the bottom of the car hit snow piles on the road as we moved along. The total snowfall in Kingman, however, was about 3-inches when we got there. The next morning when we got up there was another 3-inches of showfall in Kingman during the night but the sun was out. To shorten the story, we finally got out of Kingman about 3PM Tuesday while we waited for DPS to reopen I40 which closed both east and westbound while they were clearing several accidents that resulted from ice and snow that formed during the night. I guess I'm writing this to happily report that the safety features designed in worked flawlessly. I noticed the traction control engaging a few times as we approached Kingman making the last 500-ft climb through the snow-covered road. Not once did I loose control of the vehicle nor did I worry about our ability to trudge through it all. My wife, on the other hand, was more concerned that I - and she grew up in a town outside Chicago where she saw this kind of stuff all the time. Here are a few pictures I was able to take after we got to the hotel in Kingman Sorry - unable to get them to post here. So you may check them out in my gallery:PriusChat Forums - EZW1's Album: Feb 09 Snowstorm
Here in Minnesota, we called weather like that "Tuesday". In other words, seeing that on a regular basis is no big deal. And like you observed, it makes for good photo opportunities. .
Cool pics! But this kind of snowy condition (1-3") is no big deal, Prius can see worst storms. It's the cars surrounding you need to watch out for.
You really aren't going to get *any* sympathy from us northern PC members. We get this all winter long. Tom
Thanks for the pictures. I was wondering what snow looked like. We are looking "forward" to 5 days of rain in LA, but snow is something best experienced on post cards, or Priuschat photos.
Of course, we had that nasty ice storm on Monday. Mostly everything is back to normal now, except for the glare ice sideroads. If I had a choice of driving my Prius or my FJ on glare ice caused by an ice storm, I'd take the Prius as it has studded tires
I was thinking about the title.. SW?? snow? what the heck. Nice pics. Did ok in the Integritys? I wonder if it's the same storm that gave Oklahoma some tornadoes after it passed you guys.
SW = southwest. NV and AZ are in that part of the US. A couple of weeks ago we spent time in Las Vegas and also ventured into UT, visited Bryce Canyon NP and got up to 9,100 ft altitude. It was snowing up there and the 2004 did well in that environment.
Yes, exact same storm. The car has the standard Integritys on it. I've read here that they are not the best and that doesn't surprise me (most auto mfgrs put 'less than best' parts [like tires and batteries] in order to save some mfg costs), but they did okay... I guess. I noticed some slip a couple times - especially when climbinb the last hill going into Kingman, but the Trac seemed to keep things in check. Don't mean to rant but this storm freaked my wife and had me thinking about a few things - especially knowing I had 30 miles to got before I got to town.
As far as the Trac, last Spring I test drove a new 2008 Prius when there was still a wee bit of snow around. On factory tires, the TC behaviour was light years better than my '04. So Toyota has clearly learned and applied changes to the TC system
Jayman, I did a little more scientific testing with our 2006 Trac. It allows for significant wheel spin, even at a dead stop. We had the Prius stopped uphill on ice, then we gave it gas while an observer watched from the outside. One or both of the drive wheels would spin fairly fast, depending on relative traction. Inside the Prius you could hardly tell that the wheels were spinning. HSD makes it hard to hear normal wheel spin on a slippery surface. If I were less informed, I would subsequently post that Trac stopped me dead on a little bit of ice. I know I could have made it up that glare ice without Trac getting in the way. <this is sarcasm, just in case any new readers are even slightly confused by my sense of humor>. Tom
I've had observers along for a ride when the TC intervened. According to them, the tire will rotate about 90 degrees, pause for 3-4 secs, rotate another 90 or so degrees, etc When I testdrove the 2008 and purposely made the TC kick in, it seemed so fast as to deliver an almost continuous flow of power. The TC on my FJ will not actually pause the wheel, at least if it does it's so fast as to be unnoticeable. The only time a wheel is halted on my FJ is if the brake is applied, as the TC thinks the other side has better traction
EZW1, you didn't mention that you saw any snow plows in your travels through the snow in Arizona. That 4 inch snow in Minnesota would have triggered the appearance of numerous big orange MNDOT snow plow/sanders in a hurry. Unless the roads had been declared closed by blizzard and white out conditions, travelers would have been joined by numerous dedicated plow drivers in a frantic effort to keep the highways open, overtime be dammed. Snow tires are not usually necessary in most parts of Minnesota and my original Integrities served well for two winters until replaced. I haven't had a set of chains for 50 years, we have snow plows instead. Glad you got through well in your Prius.
Sorry Tom, I forgot about that. I thought those Southern farm girls had a reputation to uphold though?
