we get a lot of wet snow coming off of the ocean, so we also get a lot of black ice

The winter in the Vancouver area is very mild, but it only takes about two to three hours to get into real Canadian winter.
So many city folks don't have a clue about winter travel

Yeah I figured that the Ocean would have an impact, but never living that close to the ocean I didn't know how much of an impact.

Fortunately for us, we would only need to travel a max of about 30 miles. That is to the largest city in this area of the state, Cape Girardeau which is located on the Mississippi river. Other than that our travel distance is only 15 miles as that is how far my work is from home.

the warm ocean current off of our coast really moderates the temperature, not like the cold north atlantic

Ok, I didn't know how warm the waters would get up in your area. I know when I was in Shemya the ocean was COLD!

My personal winter driving record from work to home, happened when I still lived in Maple Ridge.
It took me from 4:00 pm to 10:30pm to get home (about 25 miles)
ACouple of times I started to go to work and turned around because of the other drivers

Warm is a relative term
It is still cold, just a warming influence on the land

the ocean temp stays around 50 F all year round just off of Vancouver

Mine was from work to home as well. From our driveway to the parking area of the Sheriff's office is 16 miles. Got a few MODERATE hills, nothing that you couldn't push your own wheelchair up, and it took me about an hour and 10 or 15 minutes.

winter is the best time to dive around here due to the visibility

That IS pretty constant. Bet you've got some good fishing there.

Ooooo Stomach Cramp, be back in a minute.