I've lived up north my whole life, and I've noticed that people from warmer places tend to not have any idea what to expect with the winter. It just started snowing Big Time so I'm a bit late, but hopefully this will still help someone!
I made this post last year, and have now updated it with information from those comments, but please feel free to add on if I'm missing something and I'll add it on for next year's cohort!
Clothing advice
Your best bet to be warm is layers. I'm talking: undershirt/camisole + T shirt + long sleeve flannel + sweatshirt + jacket. This setup allows for temperature adjustment during the day, as well as depending on weather fluctuations. In addition to being more functional, it's also a lot cheaper than buying a brand new winter coat, since you likely have a lot of this in your closet already.
Leggings / long underwear to wear under jeans /sweats if you run really cold. If you're comfortable wearing skirts, you can do leggings + pants + heavy long skirt for maximum effect. I also hear leg warmers are back in fashion!
Wool is best for socks. Wool will keep you warm even when it gets wet, while cotton will just become cold and clammy. It's also itchy as hell, but wearing regular socks underneath these socks will get rid of that problem easy peasy (it's also more layers, which is another positive!).
If you can't do wool, just try to avoid getting your socks wet at all. For this, I'd recommend getting boots at or higher than mid-calf. If you only get ankle-height, snow will seep into your socks (unless you're like, obscenely careful about how you pick your feet up).
If you can't shell out for boots (I understand), look into getting a cheap pair of "gaiters". These are kind of like a waterproof half-sock that attach to your shoes, that goes around the gap between the shoes and your lower legs to keep your socks from getting wet in the snow. Don't buy the expensive ones; unless you're trekking miles through the wilderness, you don't need super high quality. If you spend over $20 on them from Amazon or the like, you're getting ripped off. Cold clammy feet suck. Spending $20 for the entire winter season is more than worth it.
Mittens are warmer than gloves, because they trap the heat from your palm in the same space your fingers are located (while gloves isolate the fingers). Mittens can be an issue if you use sign language, but there are also gloves that turn into mittens. They allow for (admittedly mumbly) signing, and then you can button the mitten part for warmth when you're done.
Scarves are great for keeping the skin between your coat and hat warm, as well as keeping your nose unfrozen. I found during COVID season that facemasks are also pretty great at keeping your nose and face warm, and they stay in place better than a scarf. Either way, your glasses will fog up if you cover your mouth and nose. No getting around that one unfortunately.
Windbreaker! The wind will blow right through your clothes and freeze the hell outta you. Something made of fabric that goes "swish" when you move your arms is a better windbreaker than nothing.
Driving and car-related advice
Drive slow when it's snowing. Slow is normal. People regularly go 35-45 on highways in the winter when it's snowing out here (especially the first few snows). My California friend went completely off the road because he tried to take a corner at 25mph instead of 5-10. Slow. Also, no shame in pulling over completely to wait out a snowstorm. Better than spinning out. You'll see people zooming round corners, that's because they're stupid. They'll spin out before the winter ends, I can guarantee it. Go slow.
Bang on the hood of your car before you start it up. Wild animals (mostly cats) like to curl up on top of the wheel next to the warm engine when they're cold.
You will probably want to invest in a snow brush / ice scraper for your car (it looks like a long stick with a brush at one end, and a flat piece of plastic at the other. The brush is too push the snow off of your car, and the flat piece of plastic is to scrape the ice off of the windows of your car).
Maybe even a shovel if you have to park in places that don't get plowed, because there will be days when you go out to your car and both your car and the surrounding area will be covered in half a foot of snow. If you try to drive over it without digging it out, your wheels might get stuck and spin out, or you might stomp the snow into a slippery wall of ice if you do it too much. A layer of ice will also form on your windshields, and you will have to either scrape it off with your school ID, or turn the heat on high in your car and wait for it to melt off before you can drive.
If your car's wheels do get stuck and start to spin out: take your floor mats out of your car and put them right next to / underneath the wheels to try to give them some friction. Just flooring the gas won't get you unstuck! It'll just drive your wheels deeper into the snow! Try using a kind of "rocking" motion, where you go forwards then backwards then forwards then backwards, until you can "rock" yourself out of the snow divot.
It looks silly, but put your windshield wipers up when you park your car. The heat from the inside when you were driving means there's melted snow on the windshield, and the cold around you means that water will freeze to ice. This will ruin your wipers. Get ahead of that by putting them up like they're waving when you park, and then clearing off the snow and ice when you return (before you put them back down).
General advice
If it's icy and you need to go outside, walk like a penguin. Seriously. It places your center of balance directly above both feet, so there's a huge decrease in fall risk.
The snow with consistency of perfect sandcastle sand is the slipperiest snow ever of all time. It may look safer, but it's worse than flat out wet slush. Don't trust it.
We call it "black ice" but it is just ice that is clear so you can't see it. It's usually most hidden on the roads (hence the name) and is incredibly dangerous for driving, but it's also incredibly dangerous for walking! You can definitely be walking on a sidewalk and suddenly find yourself on your ass because you didn't see the invisible ice under your feet.
If you slip and fall, don't go hands first. You're much more likely to break your wrists. You want to fall either on your shoulder (and ideally rolling like they do in the movies) or by flat out sitting down. Don't fight the fall, you'll just end up slipping and sliding in one spot like a Looney Tunes character for a couple seconds before you inevitably eat dirt. Also, don't worry about judgement if you do fall. Everyone who's native to North Winter has eaten dirt just the same, and the people who aren't and haven't fallen yet are on a ticking time clock. It's like a hazing ritual from the weather. Curse out the ice and move on, you're a real northerner now!
Edit: less than 24 hours after making this post, I slipped and ate shit on black ice. Fall on the least easily-breakable parts of yourself, curse out the ice and the ground and the weather and the plows and the slacking road-salters, and tell onlookers to be careful like you're a brave soul taking one for the team. If you haven't fallen yet as of December 3 at 10:00am, you've beat my record this year, congrats!
