The first major winter storm of the year struck the Lawrence area Tuesday, bringing with it daytime heavy rain followed by evening sleet and snow as temperatures plummeted.

The sleet turned to snow shortly before 8 p.m., driven by wind gusts that topped 40 mph. Snow measuring about 3 inches was expected to have fallen by 3 a.m. today, 6News forecaster Ross Janssen said. Temperatures this morning were expected to be in the lower 20s.

And winter doesn’t start for two weeks.

Josh Atkinson, a KU senior from Overland Park, didn’t mind the storm. He walked through it from his home in the 1000 block of Alabama Street to the Java Break, 17 E. Seventh St., to study for finals and enjoy some coffee.

“I really enjoyed running and skidding along,” Atkinson said. “I intentionally put on the shoes that have the least traction on them.”

Slippery going

Motorists and law enforcement agencies weren’t enjoying the slippery streets as much as Atkinson. Lawrence Police were busy responding to traffic accidents that began during the evening rush hour. As snow was falling atop a layer of ice from the day’s rain and sleet, traffic was snarled on Kansas University’s hilly roadways, and officers were chasing a string of accidents across the area.

Shortly before 10 p.m., at least a half-dozen vehicles were stalled trying to make it up the westbound side of the steep Ninth Street hill at Avalon Road.

Police were too busy to give any details about the accidents.

Motorists were having problems from one end of the Kansas Turnpike to the other, dispatchers said. Troopers were working accidents that mainly involved vehicles sliding into ditches.

The Kansas Highway Patrol was investigating an injury accident near Big Springs in Douglas County, but no details were available. Fatal accidents had occurred in Shawnee and Doniphan counties in northeast Kansas, dispatchers said.

But if cars had difficulty moving, Tom Miller insisted he was doing just fine on his bicycle. Miller was riding south from 10th and Massachusetts streets, headed toward his job at Dillons grocery store, 1740 Mass.

6News video: Wintry mix blows into Lawrence ‘Pretty good storm’ hits statewide 6News video: Wednesday’s forecast Latest forecast

“It’s no problem,” Miller insisted. “This isn’t so bad. This is nothing compared to the winters we used to have around here back in the ’70s.”

By 10 p.m., only Bishop Seabury Academy had announced that it would be closed today. Lawrence public school officials will inform local media outlets early this morning if Lawrence schools are closed. Kansas University officials said a decision on closing would be made by 6 a.m.

Stocking up

Kansas University freshmen, from back left, Nathan McGinnis, of Overland Park, Kyle Gorynski, of Topeka, and Mike Irvine, of Chicago, sled down Campanile Hill. The three Hashinger Residence Hall residents sledded down the slippery slope Tuesday evening.

As the storm moved into the area earlier Tuesday, fears it would turn bad pumped up business at grocery and hardware stores across the area.

Eggs, water, bread and other staples were flying off the shelves at Hy-Vee, 4000 W. Sixth St., as early as Monday afternoon, said Jon Hensley, the store’s perishables manager. Ice Melt, sand tubes and windshield scrapers also proved popular, as area residents raced to prepare themselves for the approaching storm.

Monday’s business climbed 25 percent higher than a typical day, he said, and Tuesday’s receipts were at least 30 percent higher before the expected evening rush.

“It’s like the day KU played Missouri,” Hensley said, recalling the rush of tailgaters that stocked up Sept. 27 for the Jayhawks’ victory at Memorial Stadium. “It’s a similar increase in urgency.”

Sales of shovels, firewood, Ice Melt and generators were heating up at Westlake Ace Hardware, 601 Kasold Drive, where managers were hauling in inventory from their warehouse in Lenexa.

While they didn’t expect everything to sell this time around — at one point, the store had 66 shovels alongside ever-growing piles of Ice Melt bags on the porch — they know Mother Nature will smile on them again.

“This is obviously not the last snow storm we’ll get all year,” said A.R. Wells, store manager.

Not like the old days

Not everyone was worried about the weather, though.

Though she was shopping Tuesday afternoon, Gloria M. Follett said the storm hadn’t spooked her. After following the storm on TV radar all day, she’d concluded that most of the snow was going to miss Lawrence.

Besides, what’s the big deal about an inch or two of white stuff?

“I remember that horrific November snowstorm in 1948,” said Follett, now 55 years after starting out as an elementary teacher in St. Francis. “It paralyzed everything in the entire Midwest. There was so much snow I couldn’t even get home from Tuesday until Saturday.”

She recalled how her car, a 1936 Chevrolet, slid off the road on the way home from school. She managed to trudge for 3/4 mile, through snow deep enough to cover hedgerows along the side of the road, to a farmhouse where she managed to wait for the blizzard’s effects to clear.

Ralph Ybarra, Lawrence, spreads salt onto the sidewalk in front of Gap, 647 Mass. Ybarra, who works for Gene Fritzel, worked quickly to beat the freezing rain and snow that began falling Tuesday.

So Tuesday afternoon, as she climbed into her Honda CRV, Follett wasn’t about to complain.

“It’s chilly,” she said. “That’s all.”

Earlier in the day, Dan Robb, labor manager for Highland Construction, dropped by Westlake Hardware to pick up four snow shovels — one for himself and three for his fellow employees who were bracing for possible action overnight.

With responsibility for clearing sidewalks, driveways and parking lots outside dozens of apartments, townhomes and construction sites in town, Robb said he wasn’t feeling sorry for himself or anyone else faced with the daunting task of shoveling or scraping in the morning.

“Everybody’s got to deal with it,” he said. “It’s just a fact of life: It snows in Kansas.”

Though wet and windy, it was relatively warm through the day, with a Lawrence high of 41 degrees. Before the sleet and snow began, .94 inches of rain fell. By 10:30 p.m., about 2 inches of snow had fallen in Lawrence.

No additional snow was expected in the Lawrence area today, Janssen said. But there was another chance for snow across much of the state Friday and Saturday, with early forecasts showing potential for a couple of inches.