Originally Posted by B1

If you look at the most recent Consumer Reports tests on all-season and winter tires, you will notice that some of the all-season tires are excellent in snow and some are not. While all winter tires are fine in snow, they are not so fine on dry or wet pavement without snow, making noise and not handling well on curves or braking. The CR article shows one major brand all season as being excellent on snow traction and seven very good, one excellent on ice-braking and two very good (they were also very good on snow traction). Some of the ones that were fine in snow traction were also good on wet and dry as well. The caution that is stated is "all-season tires aren’t the best in the wake of a severe winter storm, especially if you must be on road before the highway crews" while winter tires probably do not grip as well on cleared roads and must be removed in the summer.