The best ways for fleets to deal with snow and ice.

This is part one of a three-part series on readying fleets for harsh winter weather. Running a fleet all comes down to control, with meticulous attention given to schedules, fuel costs, maintenance and drivers’ hours of service. No matter the number of vehicles under your purview—a dozen or a thousand—taking care of these constants should mitigate all those pesky variables, like accidents or breakdowns. You can’t control everything, after all.

And in the thralls of winter, when the unexpected white out or black ice could blow away best laid plans, you may feel in less control than ever, at the mercy of Alberta Clippers, polar vortices and local meteorologists’ grasp of Doppler Radar.

If you run a modern commercial vehicle fleet, you are the master and commander of a highly sophisticated logistical network comprised of well-trained professional drivers and supremely engineered equipment. Your duty is no less than maintaining the continuous flow of goods throughout North America. There is plenty you can do to prepare your trucks—inside and out—for the coming snow apocalypses.

And you’ll need to, as the only thing that has been predicted is unpredictability.

The Farmer’s Almanac says the U.S. and Canada will experience a “polar coaster” this winter, which unfortunately promises more chills than thrills.

“We expect yet another wild ride this winter, with extreme temperature swings and hefty snowfalls,” noted Pete Geiger, editor of the almanac that is only four years younger than the U.S. Constitution.

Severe weather “and large swings in temperature and precipitation” could happen at a moment’s notice, in the absence of overarching climate patterns such as El Nino, said Mike Halpert, deputy director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center.