It came, it fell, it hasn’t quite melted yet. In a fact with well precedented historical underpinnings- some might say predictable so, a blanket of several inches fluff began to fall over the Stanley-Boyd area Friday afternoon and extending into the night. Despite the predictability of the event, social media was less than impressed, as demonstrated in part by the Stanley Police Department’s Facebook page.

“What is worse than awful?” a posting December 10 at 8:19 a.m. shared from cyberspace with a vertical bar graph of road conditions labeled “good,” “fair,” poor,” and “awful,” in ascending order as the snowfall progressed.

“Conditions are going to be downright horrendous folks so please stay home this afternoon. We are anticipating a large number of crashes and slide-ins throughout the area later today and into the overnight so please eliminate yourself from this equation if at all possible,” the local police said. Things were so bad that school even cleared early, closing at 2 p.m., while the D.R. Moon Memorial Library– born in the pre-radio age and closing in on 120 years as of this week, had an important announcement to make: we’re closing early today.

“Please note that the library will be closing early today at 12PM due to the impending winter storm,” it announced Friday from Facebook. “Have a safe weekend and stay warm.” So how to eliminate oneself from the slide-in equation these next few months?

One way is to pull out of the skid likely to start things, using one’s head and not the brakes. If a rear wheel skid (where the back of the car begins to slide out, a gentle acceleration to transfer weight back and turning the front wheels in the direction of the skid (thereby turning the vehicle straight again) should do the trick–with caution!

If a front wheel skid where not enough weight is on the front of the vehicle, ease off the gas and apply the brakes lightly, thereby transferring momentum and weight forward.

If all else fails and you find yourself in the ditch, there is the tow truck. As long as one impacts just the snow and not another vehicle or deer, it might be called ‘a learning experience,” albeit one perhaps best avoided in the first place, if at all possible.