It'll be my first winter with the Jeep this year [have driven other 4x4 and rwd/fwd vehicles in the snow before up here in Ohio]. I had a friend in the backseat of my 2-door a few weeks ago and noticed how much more planted it felt when he was sitting over the rear axle, and this was on dry pavement. He's about 150lbs wet. While sandbags might not be necessary, they certainly wouldn't hurt either.

 

With the traction control will it hurt to let the pressure down a little on the tires? I let the pressure down to 10psi when off road in my XJ and about 20psi in the snow if its really icy. Just bought my JK and never had any experience with traction control. Not sure how dropping the tire pressure will affect the computer

 

Runs in the snow fine. No need to drop tire pressure.

 

The idea in snow (unless its really deep) is to sink through to the stable surface below. Airing down will do the opposite of this. The people who have more problems in snow usually have mud tires (lack of sipes) and run wider widths than stock. That's why stock vehicles usually work better than modded ones. Of course an ice base throws that out the window, but in reality anything but chains (maybe dedicated snow tires too) is useless on ice.

Thankfully I won't have to deal with snow down here in BR. Never had a Jeep in NKY/Cincy myself, but my buddy used to put his stock rims back on his TJ for this reason. Looked weird as heck with a 4" lift and 225/75-15 street tires, but the thing was unstoppable in the snow.

He's since replaced those street tires with Firestone Winterforce tires (cheapest option of any tire in that size) and loves them. Maybe having a set of those on a spare set of rims would work for you. My little brother runs them on his 2wd Isuzu pickup (Chevy Colorado) without weight and has excellent results in the snow.

 

No need for weight in my eyes. If you know how to drive in the snow, slow and steady and ready for anything, then you can drive anything. I can say, that compared to my 2000 grand cherokee and my dad's old silverado, the JK handles and gets a hell of a lot better traction than any other vehicle I've driven in the snow. Just remember, anything will slide in the right conditions and it's up to the driver to know what to do when they lose control.. i.e. stay off the brakes and let off the gas, especially down hills.. don't know how many times i wished i had a plow to push those morons who ride there brakes down a snowy hill outa the way.

 

Check this video out. It was kinda boring for about first 40 seconds as the guy in this Dodge pickup just spinning his tires trying to go somewhere, you just got to watch for the part that is funny after about 40 seconds. You know the guy in the Dodge pickup is mentally calling the person in the Jeep a smartass! Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxQhuwMNOVs

 

we got hit with 2 blizzards last winter and the jeep did great. it was a solid 2-3 weeks of snowy roads and i never had any problems. this was from a storm we got earlier that winter not one of the blizzards with drifts at 35"+

 

No issues with a Stock JKU, auto and LSD...two winters running.
Drive for the conditions, slow down you'll get there.
Conditions in the GTA include deep snow, ice pack then snow, freezing rain (not a fav of mine) and soup and slush rut filled 401.
No extra weight needed, (In my pick up days yes) as others have posted, weight in the JK is well distributed. 4HI, ESP and nice and easy on the skinny pedal will get you home for dinner every time.

 

second jk, 3rd winter comming up. best rig i have ever had in the snow, beats the hell out of all the suv's and pickups that ive had. I have never had stock tires for the winter, always use studded tires in winter. 3 ft of snow no problem. most of the time you won't even need 4wd.

 

I have an 09 JKU stock in Stock form, I live in Alaska np with the winters up hear. Drives like a dream compared to my pick up.