It finally stuck.
After a nearly bone-dry winter during which Lawrence has seen only trace amounts of snow, the city was coated in a thin sheet of snowflakes Friday night.
Slick roads contributed to three injury accidents in Jefferson County and minor fender benders and vehicle slide-offs on roads in Douglas, Franklin and Leavenworth counties, as well as on state highways.
The National Weather Service expected 2 to 3 inches of the white stuff to fall in the Lawrence area by this morning, making it the first true snowfall of the season.
It was the latest first-measurable snowfall in Lawrence since at least 1939, said Paul Mallonee, statistics coordinator at WeatherData, a forecasting service in Wichita. The previous record was set in 1997, when the first accumulation was Jan. 9.
Snow typically makes its debut in northeast Kansas in late October or early November, Mallonee said.
Keeping it away this winter has been a ridge of high pressure in the western half of the country that's blocked winter storms from entering the state, said WeatherData meteorologist Jeff House.
Aside from that, "it's nothing really scientific except for just luck," he said. "It just hasn't been coming through the state until now."
A quarter-mile stretch of Kansas Highway 92 just west of Ozawkie was shut down for an hour and a half Friday evening to clear two injury accidents that occurred within minutes of each other around 5:30 p.m., said Sgt. Jason Boyer of the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department.
Between the two accidents, a total of eight patients were transported to a Topeka hospital.
The portion of the road where the accidents took place is known for being treacherous when winter weather hits, Boyer said.
"That stretch right there has trees on both sides of the road, making it a little bit cooler than any other spot," he said. "Ice and snow just stick there. People just don't slow down."
Another accident on Kansas Highway 16-92, just south of Oskaloosa, sent two people with what were thought to be minor injuries to Lawrence Memorial Hospital, Boyer said.
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