No Stupid Questions

I lived in the Minneapolis area for many years, so I can provide a little insight. First off, you will be fine through September. Early November is when snow that lasts for more than a day or two starts to become a real possibility.

-Tires: Your best bet, even with 4WD/AWD is to have a second set of snow tires mounted on cheap steel wheels. (4WD/AWD doesn't do a damn thing for steering or stopping distance!!!) Swap those over around early November and back to your "regular" tires around late April. If you live in a suburban area, roads will get plowed and sanded quickly, so you are probably fine with GOOD all season tires. But if you're considering an exurban/rural area I would certainly recommend snow tires. Studded tires and chains are not allowed on highways in MN as far as I remember, but the laws in rural areas could be different.

-Oil: Check your owners manual. At worst you may be recommended to swap from 10W-30 to 5W-30 or something, but it doesn't get cold enough for long enough to be a strict need.

-Block heaters: With modern vehicles, it's more of a luxury than a requirement unless you are living in the northern part of the state. If you have an attached garage, it should be a non-issue.

-Other: Always keep a bit of warm weather gear in your car. This goes triply if you live in a rural area. Imagine what you'd want if you were stranded for 4 hours at -20F. Gloves, a hat, some handwarmers, a small blanket at minimum. A small shovel and a bag of sand or kitty litter can help you out if you are mildly stuck in snow. Get the good windshield washer fluid, the stuff that's rated to -40F. You'll go through a ton driving on the freeway after salt has been laid down, and it is MISERABLE if it starts to freeze up on your windshield.

Completely drain your windshield washer fluid before winter, it WILL freeze if you use a non-winterized solution.

Wash your car (undercarriage at minimum) regularly during winter or salt will eat your car.

Oil as I understand it only really changes significantly if you're in an EXTREME cold climate, not midwest lake-effect cold.

Make sure you have antifreeze, rather than pure water, in the cooling system. Pure water will crack the engine block and/or radiator when it freezes.

+1 to making sure your washer fluid can handle the cold and to making sure your tires handle snow/ice well. (There are definitely all-seasons that'll do well or better than some winter tires. Unless you know that where you're moving doesn't plow down to pavement, I'd avoid studded tires.). Tirerack.com used to have a ton of data about tire performance on ice & snow, so you might look there, but they've been reducing the range of tires they carry and rate in the last few years so they may not have your tires.

Find a snow brush for your car that will let you reach & clear the snow off your car. I'll also say I often am most disappointed by the ice scraper on a brush -- meaning that's the part that makes me regret the purchase of an individual brush.

Try to wash your car once a week in winter to get the salt off. Might make it last longer. It will still rust out in the end though.

The advice about about antifreeze and windshield washer is on point though. I would also say that once I got winter tires, it's been very hard to go back to all seasons in winter. Good winter tires like Bridgestone blizzack just have so much grip.

I think it's highly depend not on how cold the climate is. Do you know the specific location? I see you've listed a few.

Anecdotally, I grew up in a suburban area southern Michigan where the winters could get brutally cold and there is a lot of lake effect snow. But I never needed to use an engine block heater or special tires. Read wheel drive vehicles were ill advised for winter months though from what people had told me living there. I had a small FWD crossover SUV for the bulk of my time living there and it was fine. If you have to drive in snow and icy conditions, go very very slow and bear in mind that you cannot stop, accelerate, or turn quickly at all.

The most essential think I needed was an ice scraper and remembering to warm up the car first.

Obviously ymmv depending on how cold your location is and whether or not you're living out in a rural area. Also where I lived was likely a tad less cold than Denver. But cars were generally still able to start at -5F for reference.