As far as weather events are concerned, a “bomb cyclone” sounds goddamn terrifying. It kind of feels like it should be the name of a lousy high school metal band – or ska, I could see it being ska – but it’s actually the term for a rapidly intensifying storm. And boy did we get a doozy of a bomb cyclone last week. I made it to Detroit for my annual holiday visit just before the storm screwed up a huge number of travel plans. But while my friends and family were battening down the hatches, preparing for what felt like impending doom, I was getting antsy. I just wanted to go for a drive.

Rewind a couple of weeks to when I asked Porsche if I could borrow a 911 during my stay in Michigan. I fully knew some kind of mega snowstorm was probably going to happen. You might think Porsche would have said “hell no,” but the company’s response was the exact opposite. Presto, a Gentian Blue 911 Carrera was mine for the week.

See, Porsche knows what I know: The 911 is a killer winter car. And I’m not even talking about one of the many all-wheel-drive variants or the just-drive-over-it 911 Dakar. I had a base, rear-wheel-drive Carrera coupe and it was perfect. Of course, it came with one crucial upgrade.

It’s All About the Tires

I will shout this until I’m blue in the face: If you live in a place that gets legit winter weather, you need legit winter tires. All-season tires are crap – jacks of all trades, masters of none. Buy a set…