Winter Tire vs All Terrain Snow Rated Tire

[Low&Slow]

Snow tires for sure!

East coaster here. We get deep snow, slush and ice. Sometimes all in the same day. My 4 runner heads to the local ski hill every weekend in winter and at least twice a season to Quebec for ski touring. My current tires are cooper AT3 for spring/summer/fall and BFG KSI snow tires for winter. The coolers are a really good tire but on ice there is no comparison. Definitely go with a dedicated snow tire of some kind, you won’t regret it! Previous to the BFG’s I have now I was running Blizzaks and I will buy them again next time.
Cheers!

 

[WindyCity4Runner]

I don't have my 4Runner anymore, but I have a set of Firestone Winterforce UV 2 on the vehicle I replaced it with. Even though I run snow-rated Duratracs in the summer, I always switch to the Winterforce around Thanksgiving. There's no comparison between the two.
Last Christmas we had a warm spell of around 60*F and I had a road trip south planned. I switched to the Duratracs but ran into some snow on the way home. While the Duratracs were fine in the snow, they were no where as solid as the Winterforce would have been.

 

[Yoshi]

Having lived in the Ottawa area for decades, I had my summer Geolanders and a set of winter Toyos on steel rims. The Toyos were fine, but I would switch to Blizzaks or a Nokian product if I were to do it again (and also a better set of rims than the steelies). I'm now in the Vancouver area and trying to get away with my one set of ATs (Pirelli Scorpions) but will likely revert to dedicated winter tires again...