December came in like a lion last weekend, bringing with it anywhere from seven to 15 inches of snow to the Leelanau landscape.

POLICE AND rescue workers were on the scene of a rollover accident on French Road Tuesday morning. The seven people in the van that rolled over were not injured.

Heavy snow and high winds Saturday night resulted in snow drifts of up to four feet on county roads, which were receiving limited attention. Why?

“The way the wind was blowing and the amount of snow we got, we wouldn’t have been able to keep up by putting more drivers out there,” Road Commission manager Herb Cradduck said.

A foot of snow was recorded by Enterprise weather watcher Harold Feigel Sunday. Ten inches were recorded at the Road Commission garage in Suttons Bay the same day. Wind gusts of more than 30 mph meant accumulation at some locations was less, including Dick Miller’s hilltop weather station in southern Leland Township. There, only six inches of snow piled up.

Temperatures in the mid-to-upper 30s followed pn Sunday afternoon, complicating cleanup efforts and made for slick driving conditions.

Schools in Grand Traverse County and much of northwest Lower Michigan canceled classes Monday due to poor road conditions. That was not the case in Leelanau County, however, where all four public districts and Lake Leelanau St. Mary had buses running on schedule, much to the chagrin of students hoping for the first official “snow day” of the year.

In addition to classes, the wintry mix canceled the St. Mary’s Eagles boy basketball game Monday in Buckley.

The onset of snow wasn’t a downer for Rich Zywicki, new owner of Cedar Hardware and an avid snowmobiler.

“I sold a lot of shovels and lots of salt,” said Zywicki. “It’s beautiful. I went for a (trail) ride down to Benzie County last night. There’s not much you can do about it, so you might as well enjoy it.”

Earlier in the day, slick road conditions were a factor in a 1-vehicle rollover accident on French Road that proved scary for the driver and seven passengers. Rebecca Belanger, 31, of Lake Leelanau, was traveling south on French Road between Hohnke and Bodus roads when she lost control of the passenger van she was driving. The van made a 180-degree turn, flipped onto its side and slid into the ditch on the west side of the road.

There were six passengers in the van, mostly children. There were no injuries and Belanger was not cited.

French Road had been plowed and a salt-and-sand mixture had been applied Tuesday morning. However, it did not stick to the road surface because of the low temperature and high winds, Cradduck said.

Folks like Zywicki, who love to get out in the snow, will likely be thrilled with both the short- and long-term forecasts for Leelanau County, which calls for snow, snow and more snow. Northwest winds across Lake Michigan were expected to keep the lake effect machine running.

An estimated 2-4 inches of accumulation were predicted by 5 p.m. yesterday. Snow is almost a sure thing for today with a 90 percent likelihood forecast by the National Weather Service. There’s a 50 percent chance of additional snow Friday. The probability of low drops to 30 percent on Saturday and Sunday.

As of Wednesday morning 29.5 inches of snow had fallen this season at the Road Commission garage in Suttons Bay, nearly identical as the same time last year when 29 inches had been measured.