The Nokians are M+S rated and simply don't have the snowflake icon attached yet as they are a very new AT tire. In my researcj, I found that they we a bit late submitting these new tires for the rating system and will shortly sport the snowflake symbol in conjunction with the M+S...but as it stands now, they come from the factory with that mud and snow rating as standard. I think the Vatiivas might be among the best, all season, casual offroad, stellar highway performance in inclement weather AT around. So to answer short, yest they are snow rated. Their secret is in designing an aggressive AT tires with Hakka siping and a multi-cellular compound with all the same properties of a straight up snow tire like Blizzaks. The Hakka siping goes 100% through the entire tread, and one look at the siping, you know you will have the best possible traction on the slipperiest of ice...that's their bread and butter. Whats sets these apart is that its still a very aggressive AT with those properties...things like deep treads with a fairly open lug pattern that duplicates the incredible Revo tire pattern, a big square shoulder on the sidewalls that give it a meaty look. I can't even describe how well these tires perform and can be had for a ssteal over MSRP...mine were almost $50 cheaper PER TIRE than a set of Revo's or BFG KO's. I got them for $103/tire, with discount ($113 before the sale price)
some pics of my rigs meats:
the M+S rating.
deep treads with oodles of Hakka siping
the Revo-like tread pattern and nice square beefy shoulder
closeup of shoulder
driver side front - - this is 5000 miles in and barely any tread wear that I can tell.

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2003 Silver Sport - Debadged
245/75/R16 DuraTracs
Cragar Soft 8s
OME Coils & Front Shocks, Bilstein Rear Shocks - Muddified Lift
JBA 4.5 UCA
K&N CAI
MagnaFlow Exhaust
Rola Vortex Rack
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