Pets

Many years ago (decades, actually) I drove a rental through a snowstorm. I would not have done it except that it was a family emergency. My then fiance's car had been totalled when a school bus rear ended it. (An old car. He was a grad student then.) We had just got a call that his mother was dying and asking for him. He was in no shape to drive, so I took over.

The damned rental did not have snow tires! The "all weather" tires were nearly bald. I could only go about 25 mph on the highway to avoid fishtailing and losing control. We made it without an accident but it was harrowing and tense.

So you are wise to be cautious, even if your rental is in better condition than the one that I drove.

The prediction here is up to 18 inches overnight and the same amount next day, with continuing snow afterward but tapering down. I90 here follows the Lake Erie coast a few miles inland of the water, so it is open space that gets the brunt of wind and snow off the Lake. In storms like this one, the wind freezes the first melting snowflakes and then piles snow on top of ice. The wind causes snow swirls that create zero visibility. There are already reports of semis jack knifing on the Thruway, which is why it is closing down. I have been on it in the past during a snow and ice storm and it is very scary.