Students were treated to the first sure sign of winter yesterday morning as mother nature blanketed the the ground with a thin layer of the white stuff.

Katie Duncanson, a senior in biochemistry, was surprised by the snow when she woke up. Duncanson said she was not prepared, “but it wasn’t very much snow. The roads were slick and they weren’t plowed very well. It’s a change of pace. It takes a while to get used to it again.”

The flakes caught meteorologists off guard, too.

Meteorologist Ed Wilson from WHO-TV in Des Moines, said Ames received a reported three-quarters of an inch of snow.

“We were expecting freezing rain,” Wilson said. But the temperatures were colder than expected, turning the rain to snow.

Flakes began falling about 4 a.m. The bulk of the snow fell between 5 and 6 a.m.

Sgt. Jim Robinson with the Ames police department said there were numerous accidents reported yesterday morning due to the snowy conditions.

Ames police officials reported 18 accidents between 7 and 9:15 a.m. There were no injuries, but there was a lot of property damage.

A lot of the accidents reported were multiple car accidents. One car on North Dakota Ave. was struck three times by different cars.

The road conditions improved later in the day. “Things lightened up as the snow was cleared from the roadway,” Robinson said.

Steve Salvo, operations administer for Ames Public Works, said snow crews were prepared. “We always assume that this time of year, we’ll get snow,” Salvo said.

Eight crews began ice controlling the roads — dispersing sand and salt — at 7 a.m. Tuesday morning to make the roads safe for morning commuters.

“That’s about all you can do,” Salvo said.

Salvo said intersections, hills and curves were especially touchy.

The snow had little effect on buses. Brent Klooster, operations assistant for Cy-Ride, said the buses were close to being on time. No delay was longer than five minutes.

By Tuesday afternoon, all of the buses were running on time. Klooster said during this time of the year, Cy-Ride has more drivers in case some of the buses are running late.

Wilson said Ames can “unfortunately” expect more freezing rain today. There may also be some light snow.

By Thursday, meteorologists say the snowy weather should move on, but it’s sure to be back.