Winter snow tires

We don't always get a lot of snow in this area of the country, but when we do get snow, it seems like the whole state screeches to a halt and doesn't move again till the roads are clear. That can be quite some time since they don't really budget for snow clearance very well.

Now that I'm working and I know I have to be at my job regardless, I may need to consider an extra set of winter tires for my pretty little car. What's on there now are just regular street tires and they'll put me in a ditch if I try to drive when the snow is on the ground. The article I've linked to gives some very good reasons for those up North to have winter tires and those reasons would hold true even for those of us in the South.

With most of the roads I travel around here looking like a skating rink in the winter after a snowfall, you can see why winter tires would be a great advantage over the all season tires I am running now. Actually, that's what the road I live on looks like for weeks after the highways are clear, only our road is more, um, vertical!