GOODLAND ? Schools and highways were closed in northwest Kansas on Wednesday after a winter storm packing snow and ice moved into the area overnight, and more rough weather was forecast.

“There’s no school in northwest Kansas basically anywhere,” said Samantha Siruta, records clerk for the Sherman County Sheriff’s Department.

About 5 inches of snow fell, along with a half inch of ice and freezing rain, producing slick driving conditions on Interstate 70, forecasters said. The state on Wednesday closed I-70’s westbound lanes for about 120 miles, from Wakeeney to the Colorado border. Both westbound and eastbound lanes of U.S. 36 were closed for about 10 miles from the Colorado border east to St. Francis.

“There were quite a few slide-offs and a couple rollovers on the interstate,” Siruta said.

She said injuries were reported, but it was unclear how serious they were.

Stan Whitley, a spokesman for the Kansas Department of Transportation, said people were starting to fill Kansas motels because they couldn’t travel in Colorado. Also, I-70, as well as U.S. 36 and 50 were snowpacked, he said.

The Kansas Highway Patrol said late Wednesday troopers hadn’t reported any major accidents because of the snow and ice.

Weather shut down Denver International Airport, forcing officials at Kansas City International Airport to cancel dozens of Denver departures and arrivals Wednesday and today. That created scheduling headaches going into the weekend before Christmas.

A vehicle makes its way past a tree limb broken off by ice, blocking a lane of traffic Wednesday in Garden City. Southwest Kansas is forecast for continued freezing rain changing to snow through today.

Brad Mickelson, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Goodland, said a half inch of freezing rain fell across extreme northwest Kansas and northeast Colorado overnight and that had changed to snow, with most areas in Kansas getting 4 to 6 inches.

“The further west you travel, the higher the snow accumulations,” Mickelson said.

He predicted that by this afternoon “we could see a foot of snow, and the further east you go to Hill City and Hays, they’ll experience a lot more freezing rain and it might change to snow.”

Mickelson said there had been reports of tree limbs down.

“The snow has let up a little bit, but we’re not done with this yet,” Mickelson said. “The backside of this storm looks like it will begin to wrap around later today, then the winds will pick up a little bit from the north, causing some blowing and drifting snow.”

Residents of Garden City reported brief power outages early Wednesday because of falling icy tree limbs, said City Manager Bob Halloran. He said the temperature was hovering just above freezing, with a heavy mist.

“We need to get a few more degrees in temperature and then we’ll be fine,” he said.