I can't disagree enough with the above poster. I had a job the last few years that involved a lot of travel. I averaged 44,000 miles a year on my SUV during that time, and most of it was over I-68 in West Virginia and Maryland. I-68 goes through several mountain passes that include a town called Frostburg (aptly named), has several ski resorts located within 20 miles north and south, and is one of the few places around that people actually keep snowmobiles. When I wasn't on I-68 I was on backroads in WV that are not regularly cleared. I routinely had to be in court by 8 or 9 am, which was 3 hours from my house, so I was out before the plows and on a lot of days, making first tracks. With that kinda miles, I wore a set of snow tires out between november and april every year, so I've had the chance to try lots of different ones out, and the newer "studless" ones like the Blizzak are so much better than the old style "studdable" ones that its not even funny. If you want to run studs, they do very well on packed snow and ice that is deep enough for the studs to dig into. However, they are very very noisy, add a lot of vibration, and they have very little traction on dry pavement to the extent that I consider them dangerous. I ran the Firestone Winterforce last year, and while they are studdable they also have a high silica tread compound. They tested very well and are a reasonable price compared to the Blizzaks, which I think lead the category in performance. The blizzaks have been tested to get better traction in a hockey rink than even studded traditional tire, and they grip much better on dry pavement. I would buy the winterforce again, though I'm not buying snow tires this year since I don't have that job anymore and I'm living closer to DC, where we get much less snow, and I won't need to drive in it as much. I always keep tire chains in the back, though, just in case things get out of hand. You can get both the Blizzak and the Winterforce in lre. You always want to go with the narrowest tire possible for snow tires, so I'd stick with 245/75/16's. This is what I'd order: Firestone Winterforce LT
And if you have the extra cash, I'd expect these to be as good as the other blizzaks I've used have been, though this is a new tread pattern I haven't used: Bridgestone Blizzak W965

If you do decide to run studded, I have heard that the Nokian Hakkapalitas are hands down the best, and I saw a ton of people running them in Colorado when I was there. I've heard studded Hakkapalitas will outperform any other snow tire on the market in snow and ice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8MnCH-Z0QY