We finally got some measurable snow today, about 3” of it. I used a household need for an excuse to run to the convenience store a couple blocks away and after I got back rode around the neighborhood a bunch. The MWPs did pretty well. Through fresh snow they did great up to about 2” but over 3” they got a little squirrely. I never fell but had to put my foot down once taking a sharp corner. I tried riding through some of the plowed stuff on the side of the road, about 6” deep over wet grass and I had to stop. It was a little dicier navigating tire tracks from cars especially over the already rough pavement in our neighborhood, the tire tracks aren’t straight so you’re always going over them and back and forth across them and despite never falling it FELT like I was going to fall so I have little confidence in riding roads in that sort of condition. I doubt anything but a fat bike would feel solid going over and through that stuff. The tires never gave but I did end up airing them down to 40psi which did seem to offer some improvement on the hardpack. It’s cool to know that these tires CAN handle unplowed roads, but if I were to spend any more time on unplowed surfaces I’d want a fatter tire. I think 3” of snow is about the limit for these but man they sure do well. I actually tried the streets with a pair of knobby 32s before I put the studs back on. They did passably well getting moving and going straight but cornering and braking, forget about it.
I didn’t set out to make this a review but as it’s my first winter commuting I wanted to make some notes.

I for one find it pretty hard to believe you’ve asked the question here before and never been given an answer.

I like em. They don’t defy the laws of physics, but I didn’t expect them to.

Better start your own thread about it then. I’m not about to try it. It makes zero sense for me.
1) at combined weight of 230lbs (me, bike, luggage) I’d have to run them at some absurd pressure like 140psi. I’m not riding anything at 140psi over rough pavement for an hour twice daily
2) 25mm tires don’t hold up to the rough pavement, potholes and gravel on my commute, and perform poorly in loose sand which I encounter occasionally - more
often in the winter. I can’t imagine a 23mm would offer any improvement.
3) I already have studded tires for ice and hardpack - why would I take them off for snow? It doesn’t take an hour for any snow on the road to become hardpack due to motor vehicle traffic. After hardpack comes “brown sugar” over the hardpack. My studded tires barely handle the brown sugar stuff.

I won‘t use 23mm tires for anything, much less my commute. It would be borderline stupidity for me personally to install them to ride in snow. The only type of snow they’ll work marginally well on is fresh powder on top of a dry road. That barely ever happens here, I don’t know about elsewhere. I guess I’m wondering - try using 23mm tires as opposed to what? And to what end?

I got a lot of snake bites using 25s, even being kept at 120 psi max. Because they handled poorly on gravel and over loose sand, I didn’t see the logic in exploring different options of 25mm tires, I just moved to wider tires and the snake bites stopped.

Fresh snow over dry, clean, smooth pavement is quite different than snow that’s been partially plowed and packed by traffic over rough pavement with patchy ice underneath the snow. The conditions you indicate are fleeting and transitory at best. Around here, that pretty much represents the very first snowfall and nothing else. The presence of even 1” of untouched snow hinders the ability to observe and interpret road conditions. There are some extremely rough patches of my commute including a rail crossing where I can (and must) plan ahead and pick my line but my commute is 12 miles each way. I will never have every pothole memorized. There is a lot of housing development that happens along my route with a lot of heavy construction traffic that goes with it, and there is new debris sort of constantly being tracked onto the road as a result. Large chunks of mud, gravel, big rocks, and trash. Horse drawn carriage traffic. The horses go when they need to and it ends up in the middle of the lane. When it freezes, it becomes hard as rock. Covered in snow, it’s invisible and impossible to avoid. Potholes become filled with packed snow and debris and a blanket of fresh snow conceals them. The rougher the surface and the heavier the vehicle, the wider the tire needs to be. Even if my route were short, smooth, and clean, why would I choose a 23mm tire over a studded winter tire when there’s snow on the road? What is to be gained? If there’s 3” of unplowed snow on the roads, I’m not commuting in it. If it’s too slippery for motor vehicles to safely operate, it’s too slippery for me to be on the road with them, whether I have good traction or not. There are zero miles of bike lane or MUP on my commute, the entirety is on the road in the lane excepting a one mile stretch of a 50mph limit 4 lane divided arterial that interchanges with the interstate bypass that has a full 8-10’ wide shoulder that I use. If there’s 3” of snow, it’s hard work plowing through it, it would turn my one hour commute into a 90 minute or longer workout session surrounded by vehicles sliding around. No thanks. I don’t think that the length of my commute is typical, but the surface conditions I encounter are common enough.
I wouldn’t recommend a 23mm tire to anybody for commuting use in general, let alone for a snow covered one. The presence of snow doesn’t remove or change what’s underneath it. It just makes it invisible.
As I stated earlier, it’s probably best to start your own thread about it. This particular thread I started to discuss the characteristics of Schwalbe tires and provide some feedback on real world application of the studded ones that I purchased and have been using. I’m satisfied enough that despite your glowing recommendation of 23mm tires in deep snow, I plan to keep using the ones that I have, and staying off the road when snow is deep. I can wait until the roads have been plowed. It’s usually less than 24 hours after the snowfall ends.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...5475236eb.jpeg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...440fe4a28.jpeg
Agreed. Here is what I’ve been using this winter when roads haven’t been icy. Despite being sort of a cheap tire, they have excellent traction wet, dry, clean, and dirty. I haven’t had any punctures yet, but I expect a nail or something will find its way through soon enough. They do really well through mud and sand.