There must be folk out there that, like me, don't have a large annual mileage. Anyway...I rode on winter tires the winter before this one and all last summer and this winter. The winter Michelins still look fine and hardly worn. So for low mileage folk...is winter only an option? I have not seen any data to say that winter tires are dangerous if used in summer and the worst driving conditions are always covered by the dedicated winter tires which work well.
Those of us who are gaining in years often don't drive as much as we did during our working years. Add to that we have downsized and storing extra wheels is a big problem. Consequently we tend to running one set of tires for all conditions. One of the distinct advantages of being retired is that we can look out the window, see the snow coming down and choose to wait until the plow has cleared the road before venturing out.
Here in the Okanagan I see vehicles with winter tires all summer long and some with summer tires all winter.
Some winter tires last longer in summer than others. One of our cars has been running the old style Goodyear Nordics for about six years with no sign that they will ever wear out. Yes, it's a low mileage, local car. Our newer car wears Nokian WRG3 all weather tires which went through the winter very well including four trips across the mountains to Vancouver.
