The heavy, wet snow that covered the Lawrence area Wednesday morning came as a pleasant surprise for some and a rude awakening for others.
"About 5 a.m., I heard this loud 'Boom!,'" said Louisa Kamatuka, who awoke to find a section of a Bradford pear fallen on her daughter's Honda outside her home near 27th Street and Lawrence Avenue. She said insurance wouldn't cover the damage, so she was thankful the thickest part of the branch missed the car.
Between 5 and 7 inches of wet snow fell on Lawrence by midmorning, weighing down tree branches and leading to power outages throughout the city and in Basehor. Slick roads and poor visibility across Douglas County led to at least 46 stuck motorists, 22 noninjury accidents and six injury accidents as of 3 p.m., but authorities said the injuries weren't life-threatening.
Many of the problems were concentrated on U.S. Highways 59 and 56 south of Lawrence, police and dispatchers said.
"Some of the highways had bad spots, and people were sliding around," said Lt. Kathy Tate of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.
About 1,300 Westar Energy customers in Lawrence were without power part of the morning, but power had been restored by 1:30 p.m. The main cause of outages was tree limbs coming into contact with overhead power lines, said spokeswoman Gina Penzig.
Louisa Kamatuka tries to remove a Bradford pear tree that fell on her daughter's car at their house in the 2700 block of Lockridge Drive. Kamatuka was awakened by a loud crash about 5 a.m. Wednesday when branches covered in snow snapped off and fell onto the car.
Though there were outages across town, many were in an area in North Lawrence between Walnut and Lincoln streets and North Second Street and East 1600 Road. In south Lawrence, there were outages in an area between Iowa Street and Ousdahl Road and 23rd and 27th streets.
An additional 1,700 customers in the Basehor area were without power part of the day, though almost all had been restored by the afternoon.
Near 19th Street and Atchison Avenue, Frank Leet's children and a friend were playing in the back yard about 8:30 a.m. when about a third of a tree snapped and fell.
"All off a sudden, they started screaming, and we didn't know what happened," Leet said.
Westar energy workers work on snow-covered lines along Lake Street. Wednesday was a busy day for Westar; 1,300 customers in Lawrence had lost power.
The tree missed the children and a shed, he said, and no one was hurt.
For many young people, the snow was nothing but fun. Nine-year-old Emily Nelson, enjoying the first day of her Thanksgiving vacation, said the first thought that flashed through her head when she looked out and saw the snow was, "Oh, my gosh!"
She spent part of the day sledding with friends Kirsten Gilroy and Maddie York at Centennial Park, along with about 20 other children and their parents.
Kirsten gave the snow a "5" on a sledding suitability scale of 1 to 10.
"Sometimes you can go down really fast, and sometimes you can't go down at all," she said.
Kansas University students made the traditional sledding pilgrimage to the area near Memorial Stadium.
6News meteorologist Matt Sayers said the official snowfall reading for the city was 4 inches. But snowdrifts topped 6 inches on car tops, decks and patio furniture.
6News video: Weather knocks out power (11-24-04)
City seeks volunteer snow shovelers (11-25-04)Sayers said that while snow softened throughout Wednesday afternoon, making for easier shoveling, the bad news was that freezing weather in the evening would lead to slippery roads and sidewalks overnight and this morning.
Temperatures were expected to drop to 20 by early this morning with a high of 49 later in the day. Friday's morning low is expected to be 36 with a high of 50.
-- Online editor Dave Toplikar and 6News reporter Deanna Richards contributed to this story.
An old wagon along North Seventh Street in north Lawrence is covered with snow. Between 5 and 7 inches of snow fell in the area early Wednesday, though mild temperatures throughout the day helped some of it melt.
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