It’s cold comfort for those many islanders whose morning was disrupted yesterday by a bit of overnight snow but the bitter conditions have been caused by an unusually extreme negative state in something called the Arctic Oscillation, a climactic system which is currently feeding icy Polar air over Europe and these islands.

Normally, the system is in a positive state, which means that comparatively warm, moist air is driven from the south-west and Guernsey ‘enjoys’ a more normal winter which is wet and just a bit chilly.

Quite why the Arctic Oscillation oscillates is anyone’s guess but the significant fact in this particular wobble is that it has pretty much come off the scale, at least since the 1960s.

What that means is this island can face severe disruption, possibly lasting many days, at any stage during the winter. Or not. So what level of contingency planning is appropriate for what can be widely fluctuating winter conditions?

What yesterday demonstrated, however, is that the authorities made a complete hash of reading the situation. While weather forecasts are increasingly accurate and reliable, islanders woke up to an inept display of communication that left police, Education and Island Coachways increasingly contradicting each other’s messages.

Trying to sort out schoolchildren who firstly had buses and schools but within the hour had neither only added to the confusion on the roads – roads that were initially and wrongly reported to be acceptable with a bit of care.

Behind that chaos is what Guernsey does to keep the roads open: basically nothing.

While that might have been acceptable in the 60s, is it in today’s climate when business and child minding pressures are in a different era? Can an international business centre really afford to be poleaxed because of a bit of ice on the roads?

Guernsey Water’s objections to salt being used to keep roads open might be understandable – but are they reasonable? After all, Jersey uses it without problem and there is an issue of road safety that is wider than just quality of water.

After yesterday’s performance, Guernsey needed to get its act together.

After today’s fiasco of closing the schools because of a few patches of ice, it is essential that it does.