Michigan

honestly theres hardly been any snow the past few winters :/ who knows what it could be this year. city roads will be plowed, you will have to shovel your own driveway if you hope to drive out of it unless you hire a snow plow. if youre in a neighborhood like my parents, people may pitch in to get their driveways plowed by the same company for a better rate. shoveling sidewalks isnt mandatory but some people (me) consider it polite so people can use it. if you have a dog and are like my dad, you may also find yourself shoveling out little patches of grass for the dog to do their business.

In terms of driving on snow and ice: pretend your grandma is sitting in the passenger seat holding an uncovered crock pot full of gravy, and you'll be fine--try to avoid aggressive acceleration and braking. If you have the means, I highly recommend getting winter tires put on, it makes a big difference and will likely lessen the stress as you're learning.

As others have said, we haven't been getting as much snow, and the southern end even less. The thing you'll want to watch out for is black ice, which can form even when there's no snow (when the temps are below freezing). If you're in an area that salts the roads regularly, it's a lot less common (chat with a neighbor to find out).

In terms of shoveling, some people do it religiously and some don't. It partly depends on what car you drive and how often you have people over. An inch doesn't need shoveling, but if there's more, consider shoveling at least a walking path to your door for package/pizza deliveries.

Unrelated to weather, but was confusing when I moved here: there are two colleges, both called Michigan, and they're intense rivals. The only thing that unites them is their mutual hatred of Ohio State.

You'll want to have a snow shovel before the snow falls. Get an ergonomic one, with an oddly bent handle. Much easier to use than a straight-handled shovel. If your neighborhood has sidewalks, it's your responsibility to clear snow from the sidewalks that border your property. If there's a big snowfall, like 8" or more, a snowblower is a godsend. Might be worth it to get a used one for $100 on craigslist or FB marketplace.

You will also want a snow brush/ice scraper for each car. Get a sturdy one. If it's freezing outside, turn you car's windshield defroster on, with the fan on, as soon as you start the car. If you leave it off until the car is warmed up, and then turn the hot air onto the windshield, you risk cracking the windshield.

If there's snow on your car, use your snow brush to clear the snow off of all the windows, and the headlights, taillights, third brake light, and license plates. If there's a lot of snow, brush or scoop it off of the hood, roof, trunk lid (otherwise, it will blow off and obscure your or someone else's visibility).

If there's freezing with snow or sleet in the forecast, lift the windshield wipers up and let them stand proud. This prevents them getting frozen to the windshield. If they do get frozen to the windshield, free them before attempting to turn them on. It's possible to break the plastic clips that hold the wiper transmission together, and then you have no wipers until that's fixed.

Keep windshield washer fluid in the trunk. You'll go through that in a sloppy winter in no time, even if it's not actively snowing, because other cars will kick up wet road dirt that just smears when you use the wipers dry.

When the temperature falls in the autumn, and then again in the winter, your tire pressure will go down. Check your tire pressure to make sure everything is properly inflated for proper traction and more even tire wear.

When driving, be prepared to use your parking brake to assist with stopping in an emergency. My Ford Fusion is awful stopping in the snow, so I keep a finger on the electric parking brake at all times. If it starts sliding, adding the parking brake helps immensely.

If you can avoid going out the first one or two heavy snows of the year, do it. We talk a good game about driving great on snow, but a lot of us forget between one season and the next.

If you're moving somewhere fairly urban or in the suburbs, you won't have to deal with much snow on the roads as we've got a lot of experience with snow and those plows will be out salting the night before and plowing at 4:30 AM. The further you are from the main roads, the later you'll get plowed.

If you live in an apartment I'd expect the parking lots to be plowed as well as they can but of course a bunch of parked cars are hard to plow around.

Lately snow has been sparse. I think I only got out my blower twice the whole season. That's very light compared to twenty, thirty years ago when snow would cover the ground in January and you wouldn't see grass until late March. So if it's a heavy year, watch out, but I'd say probably 2-4 times per month on average, usually clustered together into like a bad week or something.

SE Michigan isn't nearly as bad as Northern Michigan as far as snow goes. A few inches usually doesn't need shoveling, but a lot of people will do it to keep their driveways clear. Tire-tracks in snow will freeze into ice, making it harder to shovel later.

Growing up, we would almost never get snow-days off from school, even during a deep freeze + blizzard. Don't expect things to shut down, and your boss will probably expect you to show up for work. Roads will get plowed and salted, but the first heavy snow causes driving problems until they clear it up. The last few years weren't very bad for SE Michigan. Last winter, there were probably only a couple of mornings where I avoided the highway due to weather and the traffic problems it caused.

Everyone else is giving you pretty good advice already. If you have questions once you get here you could always shoot me a message. Depending on where you end up in SE Michigan I would probably be able to give some recommendations on restaurants, venues, and businesses

Before you move probably look up Michigan Lefts and how to navigate them. When I moved here that was pretty confusing for me.

When it comes to snow, winter tires can be a godsend, but as others have said the snowfall the past couple years has been pretty light. Something my parents did when they were younger is go to a big empty parking lot when it had snowed lightly to learn what sliding feels like and how to correct it YMMV with that method.

Aside from that invest in a good coat, an ice scraper, and pair of winter shoes. When you have to travel in the winter bringing along an emergency blanket and any tools you might need to get unstuck, like sand or planks if you're extra. Hope you enjoy Michigan!

In SE Michigan it doesn't matter if you're in a 55 or 70mph speed zone, people will be averaging about 80mph including in the winter. Try to stay right and it should be safe if you're doing the speed limit. The most unexpected dangerous part of driving when it gets really cold is it will freeze under an overpass and it's very hard to see. Spinning on that is non uncommon. Just hold your line when you go under them and even if you slip you're back on dry pavement in a second.
Shoveling isn't too bad if you're in decent shape. When it's really wet it can be rough on my back but otherwise it's just exercise. In freezing cold weather. With numb hands and feet from the cold. Usually needing to be done before your drive to work or just as you're getting home, so perfect timing when you're looking for something to take up some free time. ;-p
Good snow tires make a huge difference. They still stick in cold weather unlike harder summer tires and they can save you in bad conditions.
8-10 inches of snow is not rare but it is uncommon. 2-4 inches of snow at some points is usually expected. Freezing rain sucks and will take out power to a lot of people from branches falling. It's become a lot more common. Backup generators are becoming more common. However we don't have the problems Texas has with their grid and it's usually pretty sound.

Grew up in SE MI, if you’re gonna be south of the 313, there will probably get a few good days of snow where you’ll want to be careful driving that first few hours or day, then the roads will be cleared. Will likely have to deal with the 20s-30s temps more than anything unless polar vortex hits, that’ll kill an older battery for sure lol. (Under 0 degrees)

Good all seasons, or better yet a winter set on steelies will be good enough, probably more important than having a AWD or FWD vehicle. I’ve driven FWD most my life. When I first got my ‘05 Mazda3 with summers in Cleveland that gets lake effect snow…never again lol. Braking was pretty much a rhetorical exercise then.

Regardless of season, if you haven't been in the area, get prepared to be exposed to far more aggressive driving than you are used to. SE Michigan is one the most aggressive driving areas in the country.

You're not accustomed to shoveling snow. If you can afford it, get a snow sweeper. You shouldn't need a full-size snow blower, so have a shovel on hand if you get more than a foot of snow.

Get an ice scraper for the car. You'll need some salt for the steps and walkway. Snow tires are nice (I've heard. I'm from the UP, never used them myself.) Keep a thin pair of gloves in the car. I keep a blanket too, but that's only in case I have an emergency and sleep in the car.

@helloworld55 Regarding sidewalks, some cities or villages expect you to keep them clear, others have sidewalk snow plows (which your taxes pay for), and still others (few) don't seem to care if the sidewalks are kept clear. Also there are a few Michigan cities that have strange winter parking regulations, so if you need to park on the street (something to be avoided if possible) you will want to contact the city and see if they have any winter parking regulations.

If you don't have an all wheel drive vehicle, a front-wheel drive will still give you quite a bit of control as long as you are not an aggressive driver. The worst type of vehicle to have in winter is rear-wheel drive, and especially a rear-wheel drive pickup truck, because when those are unloaded there is very little weight bearing down on the rear wheels, and they are trying to push the much heavier front part of the vehicle, and on ice that's a good way to wind up doing a great figure 8 on the interstate! At least with a front wheel drive car the engine is over the wheels that are transferring motion to the pavement (or ice!) and the rest of the vehicle is being pulled along. It makes a big difference in handling on ice.

Be aware of what is happening around you in winter, a lot of times people coming up to a stop sign or stop light after the first real winter weather will forget they can't stop on a dime and will slide right through a stop sign or stop light, and if your car happens to be in the intersection you can get T-boned. Sometimes if there is enough visibility you can see someone approaching too fast and you can either speed up or slow down to try and avoid a collision. Doesn't always work but you can maybe minimize damage. Some more well-to-do Michigan residents keep a "winter beater" car that they only drive on winter days, the idea being that if it gets wrecked at least it's not their "good" car.

And no, everything in Michigan does not come to a standstill after a little snow. Each community sort of has an idea of what would be considered a heavy snow and they prepare for that. When I lived in the upper peninsula it was very common to get a foot or more of snow overnight but the minute it started falling the plows would be out and if you stuck to the main roads all you would notice was the snow banks on the side of the road was higher than the day before (and yes, the snow plows will plug up the end of your driveway when they go by and YOU get to shovel out their gifts!). But after I moved away from the U.P. I heard they got FIVE feet one night, well they were NOT prepared for THAT, and it took like a week to get things moving again. So in winter, always make sure you have a few days worth of food in the house, just in case (although usually you will get a warning if anything really heavy is moving in).

Finally, if you don't like snow shoveling (and you probably won't), consider getting a snow thrower. Do not get a cheap one with plastic blades; they break! There are gasoline powered ones, and corded or cordless electric ones. The wider the blade/chute area the more show you can blow in one pass. The corded electric ones are the least convenient because of the cord but they will always work as long as you have electric power and are often the least expensive (but again, no plastic blades, unless you like throwing money away!). The gas powered ones are more expensive and more powerful but can fail to start when you need them most, especially if you don't maintain them. The cordless ones use batteries and those can go bad too, but they can be replaced, the only thing with them is depending on how much area you need to clear you may need more than one fully charged battery to finish the job. Or you can hire a show plowing service to keep your driveway clear all winter but they will generally only do your driveway, not your sidewalks. And in some neighborhoods there may be teenagers or adults that will offer to shovel out your driveway after a snowfall, the problem with those people is they generally age out of that business, or maybe injure themselves by falling on ice or something and stop coming around, so you may need to find someone new every year or two.