A few cars ended up in ditches and some were abandoned as Islanders struggled with a thin but icy layer of snow Sunday and Monday.

With meteorologists predicting the possibility of heavy snow early Wednes-day morning, many others stocked up on essentials, made arrangements to work from home and kept an eye on the weather websites.

Cliff Mass, the region’s most well-known meteorologist, said it was possible the region would wake up to the biggest snowstorm in years, should a predicted 8 to 15 inches fall early Wednesday morning. “Snowmageddon,” he suggested it be called.

But another weather pattern in the forecast could turn the snow quickly into wet mush, leading to what he dubbed “slushmageddon.”

“In almost any conceivable case, Wednesday morning is going to be very problematic for travel,” he wrote on his weather blog. “I suspect there will be a lot of school cancellations and the like.”

Meanwhile, Islanders at the end of some of Vashon’s steep roads or atop its many hills used Sunday and Monday’s snowfall — scant though it was — as an excuse to hunker down at home.

At Sandy Shores, Islander Devon Atkins has to navigate a couple of hills as well as a serpentine road to get into town. Close to the water, her neighborhood had received only a thick dusting of snow, but she was staying at home Monday because the downhill road to Dockton can be tricky to navigate.

“I’m not going anywhere, honey,” she said.

Kim Thal and her family, who live at Quartermaster Heights on top of one of Vashon’s steepest hills, were also staying put.

“We’re stuck,” Thal said.

Sunday afternoon, Thal and her two kids ventured to the grocery store but encountered difficulty on the way home. Thal, a former resident of Alaska, could not make it up S.W. 250th Way, a steep hill, to get to her home. She finally maneuvered the car to the side and they walked the rest of the way home. Later, their neighbor Larry DuBois towed them uphill.

“Now we’re just trapped,” Thal said.

Thal was hardly alone. Several cars were left on the side of the road or abandoned in ditches, according to Island officials.

Assistant Fire Chief George Brown said he towed two cars out of ditches on the way into work from Maury Island Monday morning.

The so-called Ferry Hill was one of the worst stretches, he added, where a Dorito truck was among those stranded on the side of the road.

— Susan Riemer and Leslie Brown

Visit King County’s snow and ice page for the latest information on weather: http://metro.kingcounty.gov/up/rr/adverseweather.html