Hi,
Ideally you should have two sets of tires. One for summer and one for
winter.

I just replaced my '00 OBW tires with Bridgestone Potenza G019 GRID....do
NOT get the RE92s, I had those and they were lousy.

I also live in NE and with all the recent ice and snow they've been pretty
good.  Dry and wet traction has been excellent

I've got a 2005 Outback 3.0 wagon and just replaced the worn out
Bridgestones (which I agree with many are awful) with a set of
Blizzaks WS60s.  So far, so good.  Got through a recent snow and ice
weekend (north of NYC) with no problem.  The plan is to get a set of
nice wheels and summer tires from Tire Rack in the spring.  Great tire
but not cheap.  On my 2004 WRX I use Cooper Viking winter tires, which
aren't available in a direct replacement size for the Outback, but a
good tire at a good price.  If you can live with something slightly
smaller or larger than the 225/55-17, check them out

I'm selling the WRX in the spring and taking the wife's Outback, so I
want it to handle.  It's never going to be another WRX, but I intend
to squeeze as much performance out of that baby as possible.
Certainly has all the comfort and convenience goodies the WRX lacks
(it's an LL Beaner), and the 3.0 is powerful enough, unlike the
standard 2.5.