Freezing rain transforms trees into ice sculptures in downtown Lawrence.

A major winter storm bringing a treacherous mix of ice and snow is moving into Lawrence, making driving hazardous late tonight and possibly causing power outages by Wednesday morning. The impending storm led Lawrence public school officials to cancel classes for Wednesday and city officials to cancel tonight’s Lawrence City Commission meeting.

Drivers heading out this afternoon will find some freezing rain building up on their car windshields and roofs. But the streets shouldn’t be too problematic through the late afternoon and early evening commuting hours, says Matt Sayers, 6News meteorologist.

Ice encases a tree branch Tuesday afternoon along Jayhawk Boulevard. Heavy rains and low temperatures combined for an ice storm that was expected to continue into Wednesday.

“For the most part roads should be OK for the evening commute,” Sayers said. “It’s starting to stick on car tops and elevated surfaces. But the roads, at this point, are a little too warm for it to start slickening things up. . . . I think the main thing is for people to just take it easy. It will be later this evening and tonight when roads will be more of a problem.”

Late this afternoon, Lawrence school district officials decided to cancel classes for Wednesday, said Julie Boyle, the district’s communications director.

Cancellations, delays Police give tips for driving on ice Latest forecast Kansas road conditions

“We’re giving people advance notice,” Boyle said. “We wanted to make sure that staff and families have time to make alternative plans. We can tell from the current conditions and the forecasted conditions we’ll be having some hazardous driving conditions in the area tomorrow.”

The Lawrence City Commission meeting scheduled for tonight was also canceled because of the expected icy conditions.

The National Weather Service has included Lawrence in its winter storm warning area and Leavenworth and Wyandotte counties are in an ice storm warning area through the early morning hours.

The National Weather Service says the Lawrence area will have one-third to one inch of ice from the storm, with some locations received more than an inch of freezing rain and sleet. The precipitation is expected to turn to snow late tonight and Wednesday and end Wednesday night.

The greatest amounts of snow accumulations are expected to be near the Nebraska border.

Afternoon and evening school activities have been canceled in Lawrence and Tonganoxie and several school districts in the area dismissed classes early this afternoon in anticipation of an ice storm. The city’s parks and recreations department announced that recreational facilities would close early, at 3:30 p.m. today.

Sayers said the rain falling this afternoon will pick up in intensity about 3:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. and continue through evening. The air temperature was 28, so ice is expected to accumulate on cold surfaces, he said.

“Late this evening into tonight, it looks like things will taper off, then pick back up again in the early morning hours with another batch, for round two of some additional freezing rain,” he said. “And that will stick more than this first round will.”

The National Weather Service has said that there is a possibility of widespread power outages caused by power lines breaking under heavy ice build up.