It was dead at the Cyclone Truck Stop at about 3:37 p.m. Sunday. A few patrons sat in booths, sipping coffee and taking drags off cigarettes.

A group of three men in jeans and flannel shirts sat around a table with legal pads, holding a meeting. They conversed quietly, but were interrupted by the sound of wind rushing into the diner as an Ames Police officer dropped off another motorist whose car had slid into a ditch.

He had already dropped off two stranded motorists earlier that afternoon.

The officer was too busy to talk — he had to head back to his car to help other stranded motorists. The person whose vehicle was in the ditch was unable to talk as well, as he immediately pulled out his cell phone to call for a ride. Flustered over his stranded car, he declined to talk, took a seat in a booth and continued to talk on his cell phone.

“We’ve been pretty dead. The roads haven’t been that bad yet, but a few police officers and sheriffs have been dropping people off who have run into a ditch,” said Jor Jennings, assistant manager of the Cyclone Truck Stop, 1811 S. Dayton Ave. “If it gets to where it sticks to the road, we’ll get busy as people will start to pull off the road.”

Conditions were bad enough around 2:30 p.m. Sunday for the Story County Sheriff’s office to implement a towing ban.

“If people go into the ditch, their cars are staying there until the storm blows over,” said Melissa Spencer, telecommunications representative for the Story County Sheriff’s Office. “Conditions are too hazardous [and] it’s too dangerous to pull someone’s vehicle out.”

Despite the snowy conditions, CyRide continued to operate with no complications — an indication classes would proceed as scheduled, said Warren Madden, vice president for business and finance.

“We haven’t made a decision yet regarding classes tomorrow, and usually a decision isn’t made until 6 a.m. that morning. At the moment, it seems highly probable that classes will go on as scheduled, because there has been no indication that the university won’t be able to function,” Madden said.

“We will monitor conditions over the evening.”

CyRide routes were all running on time, said Tom Budd, operations assistant with CyRide.

“It has to be really bad for us not to run. We don’t stop unless the plows come off the road, and even then we usually just pause to let the plows clear the streets,” Budd said. “This is a very light storm for us.”

He said unless conditions become much worse overnight — adding more than six additional inches to what is already on the ground — CyRide will run Monday.

Madden said it takes a lot for the university to cancel classes. When it does come to a decision, it has almost always been to keep the university functioning rather than to cancel classes.

“The only time we’ll cancel classes is when there are substantial road conditions making roads impassable and wind chill factors that prove to be unsafe for students,” Madden said.

“We do make people make their own individual judgments, however, on their ability to travel. We don’t want people to come to campus if they feel they can’t safely do so.”

He said the university makes sure faculty and staff accommodate students who decide conditions are too harsh to make it to class.

By Monday evening, the National Weather Service said snow accumulation should amount to 8 to 12 inches. Winds on Monday could also produce blowing and drifting snow, which could cause dangerous driving conditions.

The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning through Monday evening.