Where’s the snow?

Sunday afternoon found Fred and Julie Ohse sitting in the gazebo at Buford M. Watson Jr. Memorial Park asking that very question. They were disappointed a forecast storm had yet to materialize.

“I wanted that big, beautiful, white snow,” Julie Ohse said. “I still want it to snow.”

Perhaps the Lawrence couple and other snow fans will find their wish granted this morning.

The mixed bag of precipitation that fell on the Lawrence area Sunday was expected to turn to all snow after midnight. When it stops falling by noon, there could be from 4 to 7 inches of snow on the ground, said 6News weather forecaster Ross Janssen.

By Sunday night, most northeast Kansas highways were reported to be snowpacked or icy. And though a few routes remained merely wet, sub-freezing temperatures overnight and the expected snow were expected to make today’s commute difficult.

Also, four area school districts had decided to cancel classes today. They are McLouth, Perry-Lecompton, Santa Fe Trail and Tonganoxie.

Sunday’s heaviest snowfalls were recorded in north-central Kansas, where from 6 to 8 inches had fallen by about 8:30 p.m., said Phillip Bills, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Between 3 and 4 inches had fallen by Sunday night in parts of northeast Kansas, including Council Grove and Topeka, with accumulations of about 6 inches reported in the far northeast corner of the state. Snow was just beginning to fall Sunday night in east-central Kansas, Bills said.

A winter storm warning remains in effect until noon today.

Doesn’t meet billing

Still, Sunday’s storm seemed mild compared to what many people had in mind Saturday when they packed grocery and hardware stores to stock up on food, shovels and flashlights.

Even The Weather Channel’s Jim Cantore, in downtown Lawrence early Sunday to report on the storm expected to hit the city, later packed up and headed west to Topeka — where snow was falling by early afternoon.

By Sunday night, law enforcement dispatchers in Douglas, Franklin and Jefferson counties had few reports of traffic accidents.

On the Kansas Turnpike, about a mile east of Lawrence in the westbound lanes, a Lawrence man was injured when his vehicle tangled with a semi-tractor trailer truck, turnpike dispatchers said. Dave Lytle, 27, was taken by ambulance to a hospital but dispatchers didn’t know where he was taken or the extent of his injuries.

Most other accidents on the turnpike were minor and included sliding off the highway into ditches, dispatchers said, adding that they were occurring the entire length of the turnpike, from Wichita to Kansas City, Kan.

About 8 p.m. the Kansas Highway Patrol responded to a fatality accident on Interstate 35 near Melvern in Osage County, a dispatcher said. No details were available. Elsewhere, Highway Patrol troopers received several reports of minor, non-injury accidents, primarily in Shawnee and Wabaunsee counties, a dispatcher said.

Weather report from 6News Heavy snow still headed toward Lawrence (2-1-04)Weather updatesSunflower Broadband’s channel 6 will carry live weather updates about the storm and cacellation information beginning at 5:26 a.m. Monday:For the latest forecasts, go to weather.lawrence.com or call 856-SKY6.

Earlier Sunday, an accident killed a 25-year-old woman whose vehicle struck a bridge after she lost control on an icy road 13 miles west of Hesston, the Harvey County Sheriff’s Department said. The victim’s name was not released pending notification of relatives.

Lawrence city streets were in “great shape” as of 9 p.m. Sunday, said Chuck Soules, the city’s director of public works. But as sleet and snow continued to fall, sand and salt truck drivers were to continue working through the night, Soules said.

Snowy week forecast

More snow was on the way.

“We’re going to have heavy snow,” Janssen said of the overnight hours. “There will be some blowing and drifting.”

Leah Robertson, Lawrence, tries to coax her dog, Raef, into ice skating for the first time at Potter Lake on the Kansas University campus. The temperatures were cold enough Sunday for people to skate on the pond.

The temperature in Lawrence was to fall from Sunday’s highs in the low 30s to today’s expected high of 24 degrees, Janssen said. Gusting winds would range from 12 to 24 mph. he said.

Another winter storm was expected to move into the area Wednesday and Thursday, according to the weather service.

“It’s still to early too tell anything about that,” Janssen said.

People who are tired of winter may cast their eyes toward Pennsylvania. Today is groundhog day, when Punxsutawney Phil comes out of his hole to check for his shadow.

If he sees it, legend has it there will be six more weeks of winter. If there is no shadow, the groundhog stays above ground to welcome an early spring.

“If we have a nice snow, I’d like for it (winter) to stay,” Fred Ohse said, as he and his wife watched their two children and others make use of brooms and a can of tuna as they played their version of hockey on a large slab of ice in the park.

Julie Ohse agreed.

“If it’s just going to be blustery and cold like it was last week, and not have any snow, then winter may as well end,” she said.