If you were traveling on Tuesday, you may have seen salt trucks out and about getting ready for serious winter weather predicted to hit the tri-state Thursday.

That's right. Coming off of one of the warmest Decembers I can remember, January is grabbing us by the collar and shaking us, saying, "It IS winter, okay?" And if the temperatures this week weren't enough of a wintry wake-up call, expected snowfall later this week should be all the reminder we need.

Seeing the salt trucks is always at once comforting and DIScomforting. It's good to know the roads are getting treated, but it's also a reminder that there will be those sections of our streets and highways that will still be slick and will make for sketchy travel.

My dad always told me that when the roads are snowy or icy that I should put my vehicle into neutral when I'm approaching an intersection where I will need to stop. That takes power away from the wheels. It's always worked.

This graphic from Kentucky Emergency Management is also good to keep handy before you head out onto potentially treacherous roadways.

There is NOTHING more unsettling than applying brakes on slick roads and you start to slide. Talk about feeling helpless.

But advisories regarding stopping during wintry weather aren't the only ones KEMA needs us to be aware of. If we get to the point where snowplows will need to be deployed, it's not a bad idea for motorists to be aware of what all the drivers of those enormous vehicles can and cannot see and where the snow they are plowing is headed.

Always be mindful of snowplows' blind spots, the direction of the plowed snow (off to the right), and how far you need to be behind them.

Last February, our entire area got hit with more snow than I'd seen in a very long time. It was fun, actually. And, yes, it was a bit problematic--my driveway is about a 30-degree slope. I don't think we're getting what we got last year. But even a little will make the roads a bit troublesome.

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