It’s going to snow. Deal with it.

You’re going to have to bust out those Uggs, the mittens, scarves and windshield scrapers.

It’s almost December and this is Illinois. Nothing you do can stop weather. Not even a James Bond super-villain, who somehow built a machine to control global rotation and Earth’s relationship with the sun, could make Chicagoland anything less than miserable. (Working title: “Die Another Tomorrow Twice Forever”)

But vague, Ian Flemming-like titles aside, accept that you’ll have to shovel your driveway; understand you’ll have to let the car warm up before hitting the road.

But when you do hit the streets during that first winter flurry, don’t drive like an idiot. This isn’t a sermon about the dangers of icy roads. It’s not going to fill up a page with a few hundred words about how everybody should drive carefully when visibility is poor. We know the dangers of black ice. People in this region seemingly are born knowing cars end up in ditches and that accidents happen in nasty weather.

In fact, it’s almost the opposite of the traditional “drive safely, be careful” column.

We’re talking about the first snowfall of the year, before things get sloppy.

Unless this is your first winter in DeKalb, you’ve seen snow before. The smart money says you’ve driven in it already. So instead of staring up at the sky while tiny M&M sized flakes melt on contact, relax. To use a trite sports cliche, act like you’ve been there before.

Trolling around at 30 miles per hour down Lincoln Highway does nothing but back up traffic because you feel the need to stay 25 mph under the limit. A light dusting isn’t always the start of a blizzard, and people should understand that overcompensating for the weather is as dangerous and annoying as not acknowledging it at all.

It’s just snow. Sled on it, ball it up and make statues on your lawn with it, throw it at your friends or write your name in it. But don’t let it control your driving – at least not until there’s enough to merit that concern.

Agree? Disagree? Contact us at

www.northernstar.info.