Is your car stuck in the snow? There are two ways to get it out. The wrong way and the right way. Here’s the wrong way:

Ignore the snarky comment at the beginning of the video. According to sources with the SPFD and the News, this car caught on fire for the same reason about two or three dozen other cars caught fire over the last several weeks in the Twin Cities. The driver was under the impression that the best way to unstick your stuck-in-the-snow car is to go back and forth between reverse and forward as fast as possible. This is incorrect. Doing anything as fast as possible in the snow does not work. One needs to be gentle with a stuck in the snow car. Treat the gas pedal like a treasured butterfly, apply no more pressure to the pedal than you would apply in patting dry the forehead of a febrile infant, coax the wheels to move no more forcibly than you would coax an unsure lover to accept your gentlest affection.

After digging out as much of the snow and slush as you can, of course.

If you jam the transmission into forward and reverse and rev the engine up like it was a Formula One race car in second place 10 feet behind the first place car in the last six seconds at Daytona, then you risk overheating the transmission. This can cause the transmission fluid to overflow onto the engine that you’ve also made hot (and not in a good way), and the next thing you know your car is doing the Bon Fire Boogie.

Also, when you are trying to drive a car out of deep snow or mud, keep the wheels as straight as possible. Adding weight to increase traction is good. If someone is pushing you, have them down on the car while they push forward, and don’t try the back and forth thing because you will run them over.

Best thing to do, of course, is stay home during the blizzard. I’m not sure why that is so hard to understand.