Freezing rain, sleet, snow — a little bit of everything fell on Lawrence and the surrounding area Tuesday afternoon, making driving an adventure and canceling today’s classes in Lawrence and area public schools. Kansas University and Haskell Indian Nations University classes were still on schedule as of 6 a.m.

¢ Winter storm brings treacherous conditions to northeast, central Kansas¢ Weather brings cancellations and reschedulings

This morning you could be waking up to one to two inches of snow, weather forecasters were predicting.

Numerous Tuesday night activities were canceled, and by 8:45 p.m. with sleet continuing to fall, Lawrence school officials decided to keep students home today.

“We’re concerned about the ice, especially on the sidewalks and in the parking lots around our schools, and the ability of our students and staff to safely get to schools,” district spokeswoman Julie Boyle said.

Kansas University officials expected to make their decision by 6 a.m. today whether to call off classes.

The latest bout of wintry conditions won’t last long. Warmer weather is ahead for Thursday and Friday when temperatures will be in the 50s, 6News Forecaster Ross Janssen said.

Jason Hilton, a group leader for the Boys and Girls Club at Kennedy School, tries to clear ice from his windshield. A storm moved through the area Tuesday and iced everything in its path, from cars to roads to plants.

“There will be a quick turnaround,” he said.

Light rain began falling in Lawrence around 1 p.m. Tuesday and turned to freezing rain a little more than an hour later. The freezing rain came earlier to Jefferson County, where numerous traffic accidents were reported.

Perry-Lecompton, McLouth and Oskaloosa schools closed early.

Once the freezing rain started, area law enforcement agencies became busy with traffic accidents, most involving vehicles sliding into ditches. A 9 p.m. Tuesday check with area sheriff and police departments showed more than 20 accidents in Franklin County, a dozen in Jefferson County and about a dozen in Lawrence and Douglas County since the storm moved in.

Andrea Dye, a Kansas University freshman from St. Louis, Mo. , left, gets the cold task of scraping ice off the car window while her friend, Kathryn Anderson, Omaha, Neb., freshman, sits inside with the heater running to operate the windshield wipers every few seconds. The two students found the ice on their car Tuesday afternoon in a parking lot on Daisy Hill outside Hashinger Residence Hall.

City and county crews treated streets and roads with sand and salt.

The latest round of moisture did little to dent the area’s drought. Many farm ponds are nearly dry and if you dig down into the soil more than six inches it is still dry, said Bill Wood, agriculture agent with Kansas State University Extension Service in Douglas County.

After track practice at Free State High School, Denis Yoder, left, helps sophomore Caitlin Donnelly scrape the ice from her car's windshield. Donnelly, who braved the icy weather in shorts on Tuesday, also received help from junior Sasha Vansickel and senior Hiral Bhakta.

“Every little bit of moisture helps, but it’s still pretty dry,” Wood said.

The ice from the freezing rain and sleet followed by overnight temperatures in the teens wasn’t expected to harm winter wheat, Wood said. Some of the wheat, which was planted in the fall, already has started to surface.

“It can take a lot of cold,” Wood said of the wheat.

¢ Winter storm brings treacherous conditions to northeast, central Kansas¢ For the latest forecast, go to weather.lawrence.com and tune in at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. to Sunflower Broadband Channel 6.¢ LIVE Web Cam at 9th and Mass.¢ Kansas Road conditions¢ Northeast Kansas Road conditions (map)¢ Northeast Kansas Road conditions (text)¢ Kansas Roadway map and weather conditions