Well I drove home one time just fine and dandy with a foot of snow on the road one time. On the road. It, too, was a blizzard. I was told to not go anywhere, and I they were ticketing people who went out but I did it anyways. No problems there. And automatics do have lower gears and if you know what you're doing, you can rock back and forth in it.

And as far as picking up slowly, take your foot off the gas, roll forward slowly and off you go just fine and dandy.