So I live in northern Illinois and we got crapped on by that awesome snow storm yesterday and cleaning the driveway was oh so much fun.  I had purchased a pair of mechanix cold weather gloves and found they simply didn't cut it.  My issues with them were once they were wet, they were horrible.  The gloves also stop at the wrist leaving skin exposed and even though for the most part my jacket covered that area, various motions of shoveling and snow blowing resulted in that area being exposed.  Eventually that area of skin became cold.

So ideally I'd like to have a pair of gloves that can take the freezing cold weather (note sub 32) degrees, keep my hands warm, cover both hand and extend past the wrist as well as offer some flexibility with this last one not being a major point.  I realize that you can't have a super warm glove while allowing for you to be able to manipulate a needle/thread.

Recommendations?

IN!
I hate cold hands almost as much as cold feet!

I have been using a similar but uninsulated glove for a couple years, adding a liner glove inside when it gets cold.

I am not sure why but they got a little damp yesterday when I was blowing snow and did not dry out completely overnight. It was 6F here today when I went out to blow more snow. My hands got cold even with the liner gloves.

I have never found any pair of gloves that is warm when they get wet. The only answer appears to be to not get them wet. Maybe someone makes a suitable waterproof glove but the ones I have tried were not especially comfortable and too bulky for my tastes.

just came in from being outside for 2 hours...we got 16.3" of snow in S.E. Michigan.  

I found a great pair of gloves, pretty cheap at Lowes.  They had them in as a bin...

They are thinsulate fingerless gloves with a flip over mitten pouch.  It's great, you can flip back the mitten part get out your keys or whatever.  My hands were perfectly warm.  With old style gloves, I seemed to always have cold fingers/ finger tips..

Something like:  Amazon

Cabela's has a pair of winter gauntlets similar to the old Hotfingers gloves, as well as a set of mittens with wool on the back of the mit to wipe nose on.
They also have gloves made out of a wetsuit material with slit in the finger/thumb to take out fingertips for fine work.  They were designed for ice fishing.

If you have a nearby Gander Mountain, go to the Ice Fishing area.

I picked up a pair of IceArmor 100% waterproof mittens with a slot for hand warmers for the Packers Playoff game last year, the worked great.

Funny thing is after using the mechanix I went inside and used a worn up 12 year old pair of cheap gloves but they did a far better job of keeping my hands warm/dry.  I'd use those except they are really worn out.

Not sure about the cabelas gloves.  No pictures given and only a size small though the description indicates that they could be good.  Too bad they don't offer other sizes.  Maybe at their stores?

http://www.gandermountain.com/modperl/product/details.cgi?pdesc=Clam-Ice-Armor-Mitts-S-XL&i=411137

For bull work like that you can't really beat mittens.

I have some surplus german mittens I got for about $5 at the Army/Navy store that are just great. They are waterproof and have a nice soft pile type fabric on the inside.

Anything that requires dexterity I use Polar Penguin work gloves. The trick for doing anything extended is having multiple sets. I might take 4 pairs of gloves to work with me, once they start to get damp or my hands start to get cold I swap them out and toss the wet ones in the truck.



These work well for cold and dry.



These are the German ones, a lot more waterproof for cold and wet.



And I use these the most at work, not nearly as warm, but way better than mechanix type gloves if you need to manipulate tools and remain somewhat unfrozen.

USGI winter mittens on that on line auction place   25 bucks shipped

I have the non dipped gloves and they are warm but a little bulky.



http://www.refrigiwear.com/Gloves/id-0228/Dipped_Waterproof_Glove_%E2%98%85%E2%98%85

The waterproof gloves I have used seem to either fall apart in hard service or are so bulky they are not real usable for doing much of anything.

Just run over to REI and pick up a pair of Outdoor Research brand gloves.  They will replace them if they fail, I.e. a seam gives out, etc.

Outdoor Research mittens.

I use an over-mitten on top of fleece liner gloves.

The mittens are Gore-Tex with minimal insulation.  nice thing is you can slip them off for more delicate work without completely exposing your hands to the elements.
You can also scale the warmth up or down based on what kind / thickness of liner glove you use.......... even fingerless gloves will keep you pretty warm when encapsulated in the over-mit.

Mine are older, I think the mfg may be gone, but these are very similar.

As an added benefit, a thinner liner glove and a thinner overmit will dry out quite a bit quicker than a thick one piece glove / mit.

A lightweight silk glove liner, then SeakSkinz for outerwear.

Seirus Windstopper Cyclone gloves.

I bought a pair of these about a month ago and have worn them snowshoeing in temps below zero without cold hands. They're lightweight, offer amazing dexterity due to their lack of bulk, and are far warmer than I would have believed. They're made of a softshell material with a fleece/fiber pile lining and leather palms, and pressing my gloved hands against the snowy ground didn't result in wet hands. If your hands sweat the fleece lining and breathable softshell material will wick the moisture and you'll never feel it. I wear these in temps when I used to wear my (discontinued) EMS Ascent Summit gloves and enjoy the greater dexterity. The EMS gloves are in a totally different class, though, expedition-grade vs ski wear.

$30 at REI? Buy 2 pairs, 1 for you and 1 for the missus. They're stylish enough that she'll wear them out around town, and functional enough that she'll wear them for winter sports if that's her thing.

ETA Register for free at http://www.activejunky.com and search for gear there. It's a sort of clearinghouse for all kinds of outdoors gear, and you get cash back on each purchase. Backcountry.com offers 12% cash back, EMS 9%, REI 6%, etc. Cash back is disbursed quarterly, either as an actual check in the mail or into a PayPal account. For stores like EMS or REI (requires one-time $20 membership) that offer rewards points or dividends for each purchase, you can really save some money. For example, 6% cash back on the $30 Seirus gloves at REI is $1.80 and the 10% dividend is $2.98, bringing the actual price down to $25.

Trailspace.com is another one where you get cash back from select stores, just search for gear and buy from within the site.