Butte County and state transportation officials are hoping that the early November blizzard isn't just an appetizer for a rough winter for snow removal - but they're working to update plans in case it is.

S.D. Department of Transportation Area Engineer Mike Carlson said the intensity of the blizzard came as a bit of a surprise after several relatively mild winters.

And, he said, the band of heaviest snow that trapped people on U.S. Highway 212 east of Newell wasn't expected from weather reports .

Butte County Emergency Management director Scott Jensen is in his first winter on the job, and noted that his major concern has been getting help to people in the area either trapped on highways or in homes without heat or electricity.

Both agree on one point: Drivers had better start taking "no travel" storm advisories a lot more seriously as temperatures in the region plunge in the colder winter months.

"We need to educate the public that when we have a 'no travel advisory,' the road is closed," he said.

A DOT snow blower truck, for example, hit a car in Spearfish Canyon during the November storm because the vehicle was entirely buried in snow and couldn't be seen by the plow driver until he had feedback from the powered snow blower.

Carlson said that technically only the Interstate highways in South Dakota can be closed off and closed down to traffic.

State and federal highways can't be officially closed because the DOT simply doesn't have the personnel to place and staff roadblocks - and too many drivers would simply slip around unmanned roadblocks or would drive country roads to evade roadblocks.

One report from the November blizzard, for example, came from a Tennessee man who had run back roads after the Interstate was closed. He was lucky and made it through.

Other reports included one from the cars stranded between Faith and Newell on U.S. 212 where a Wisconsin couple used their cell phone to notify relatives that they were about to die stranded by the blizzard.

The couple did live to tell their story to county and state rescuers.

Carlson said late last week that that equipment maintenance people were still repairing equipment damaged in the early November blizzard.

"It was some of the hardest snow since 1966," he said.

Butte County snowplows - the county does not have a snow blower - were manned well into overtime on rescues before the storm ended, and in clearing roads after the winds and snowfall eased, Jensen said.

Both state and county officials tracked costs of the snowplow work and hope that Gov. Mike Rounds' appeal for federal disaster assistance will help cover some of the costs.

County crews were the first on the scene for rescue efforts on Highway 212, then got some assistance from state plows in the Newell and Vale area.

Carlson and Jensen said they are working closely now to ensure better communications and planning for the rest of the winter.

Both said that safety for the snowplow crews and the public in general is the priority.

The buried car in Spearfish Canyon is just one example of potential danger to plow operators. Plows just in Butte County were occasionally stuck in snowdrifts themselves. State plow drivers, especially have noted how close they have come to disaster thanks to drivers who follow too closely or try to pass unsafely.

Carlson said exhaustion is a major danger for snow removal crews. "The guys worked so hard we had to call them off in the last blizzard."

He added, "We're not search and rescue, we're snowplow operators."

Asking relatively low-paid state and county plow operators to work in very dangerous conditions because drivers refused to listen to road warnings is "asking a lot."