[zdragnar]

Snow tires help you decelerate, and provide a bit of extra traction to accelerate from a dead stop.

4wd will get you moving from a dead stop as long as you aren't bottomed out. I've gotten several cars un-stuck with both a pickup truck and a UTV in 4wd, neither of which were bothered by the snow that had left the cars marooned.

AWD is better than FWD with snow tires if and only if it also has snow tires.

[solardev]

For moving from a dead stop, why is 4WD better than AWD (assuming equal tires)? Does it have to do with the locking differential, or something else...?

[potta_coffee]

My understanding is that AWD systems generally allocate power to a wheel under certain conditions where it's detected that traction is lost. 4WD sends power to all wheels all the time, except perhaps when traction is lost to one wheel and there is no locking differential. I imagine 4WD feels more powerful at getting unstuck because all the power is there right away and you're not depending on a system / sensor to recognize the need for more traction before it's delivered.