A mid-winter snow storm that was expected to continue through the evening caused numerous traffic accidents this afternoon and led to many cancellations of events planned for tonight. About 5:15 p.m., nearly 4 inches of the white stuff had fallen outside the News Center at Seventh and New Hampshire in downtown Lawrence.

The heavy snowfall was causing some problems for drivers during the early afternoon.

A KU student brushes snow off her car Tuesday in the parking lot north of Memorial Stadium. Three to seven inches of snow is expected to fall in the Lawrence area between noon and 9p.m. Tuesday.

Sgt. Dan Ward, a Lawrence Police spokesman, said that between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., local dispatchers had received 48 calls about traffic accidents related to the snow, with only two involving injuries. Two of the accidents involved Lawrence police patrol cars, Ward said.

Kansas University officials announced late this afternoon that all classes scheduled for after 5 p.m. would be canceled at KU’s Lawrence and Edwards campuses.

The Lawrence City Commission meeting for tonight was also canceled. School district officials in Lawrence, Eudora, De Soto, Basehor-Linwood and Perry-Lecompton also canceled evening events and activities.

Matt Sayers, 6News meteorologist, predicted the snow would start tapering off in Lawrence by evening and move to the east. Sayers predicted that the total snowfall in Lawrence will range between 3 and 5 inches, with most areas getting about 4 inches after it all ends tonight.

He predicted the snow would be heavier to the east of Lawrence, with as much as 6 inches in the southern Kansas City metropolitan area through the evening hours.

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The National Weather Service has placed Leavenworth and Wyandotte counties in a heavy snow warning until 9 p.m. Douglas County is continuing in a winter weather advisory through 9 p.m.

A band of moderate to heavy snow began in northwest Missouri and east central Kansas late this morning and spread eastward, reaching northeast and central Missouri.

Wednesday morning’s low will be 13. Wednesday’s temperatures will be 29, under mostly cloudy skies.

Thursdays morning low will be 14, with the high reaching 36 under clearing skies.