Snow tires on a summer cross country road trip?

I'm moving from the West Coast to the South - where studded tires are illegal. My summer tires are bald, so I'm thinking of pulling the studs out of my winter tires and using those. I know summer driving will shorten the tires' lifespan but I won't legally be able to use studded tires anyway, so who cares? Anyway, my question is this: How SAFE are winter tires in the summer? Could disaster strike during my cross country road trip with snow tires?