If you can avoid driving over the next few days, do so, say public works and safety officials across Whatcom County.

Snow and ice caused dozens of crashes across Whatcom County Monday, Jan. 16, even with fewer drivers on roads because schools and government offices were closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

"It has been very busy, very slippery out there," said Brian Mankle, Whatcom County road crew supervisor. "Everybody seems to want to go out and drive because it's the first snow of the winter."

Public Works crews in Bellingham and Whatcom County were out plowing roads Monday and will continue to do so, starting with priority roads, but they still advised drivers to stay home if they don't have somewhere they have to be.

One option is taking a bus. Whatcom Transportation Authority has been running its buses on regular schedules, though people should allow extra time for possible delays, especially in outlying areas.

"For the next few days, it won't be business as usual," said Maureen McCarthy, spokeswoman for WTA.

WTA usually operates all its routes during snowstorms, although some stops are placed on detour. Those are marked by a snowflake icon at the stop to indicate the bus will not stop there during snowy or icy conditions.

Riders whose bus stop is on a hill should instead wait at the top or the bottom of the hill, McCarthy advised.

"It would be the hill itself that the driver would avoid, and it's kind of a on a trip-by-trip basis," she said.

In the coming days, riders are being told to arrive at their bus stop on time. But dress warmly and expect delays.

The most snow in the county fell around Lake Whatcom, Lake Samish, north of Lynden and north of Birch Bay, where there was anywhere from 2 to 6 inches of new snow and more in the forecast, Mankle said. The area around Lake Whatcom in particular had several snow-related crashes and cars in ditches.

In Sudden Valley, chains were required. The Sudden Valley Community Association is asking people to avoid driving if at all possible; while the association's crews were out sanding roads in the private community, some areas were still dangerous.

Snowy roads made for a busy day at local tow companies. Owner Aaron Samora of ASAP Towing said that the company was overloaded with calls Monday.

"It all started when people started getting ready for work at around 6 a.m., and it's just been nonstop," he said Monday afternoon.

Sudden Valley was one of the busiest places for calls. Once one car crashes there, it often leads to pile-ups as cars struggle to stop. The Geneva area and the hilly roads near Lake Padden also are dangerous when roads are slick, he said.

Whatcom County had seven trucks and sanders hitting the main roads since the snow began. For Bellingham, priority roads are the arterials, bus routes and access roads to critical services such as the hospital and fire stations.

Because the snow fell over the weekend and on a holiday when most county employees were not working, Mankle said they were more aware of their budget when putting out crews, but they were switching to a 24-hour schedule at midnight Monday after the holiday was over.

For drivers who do have to be on the road, Mankle asked that they avoid hills and pull over for the plows and sanders to let them do their jobs.

"Slow down," he said.