Up to 8 inches of snow had fallen in parts of western Kansas Monday morning, closing a portion of Interstate 70 and several schools and giving the first day of spring the look of a nasty winter storm.

More than 12 inches of snow were expected in some parts of the state, as an intense upper level system moves across Kansas on Monday afternoon and evening, said Ken Cook, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wichita.

In the eastern part of the state, Cook said rain and sleet was expected to turn to snow in the afternoon.

By Monday morning, parts of western Kansas already had between 5 and 8 inches of snow. Interstate 70 closed Monday morning between Goodland and Colby, and Kansas Department of Transportation spokeswoman Kim Stich said there was no estimate for when it will reopen. She also said highways near Garden City had been reduced to one lane because of the heavy snow and slush.

Snow accumulations in Kansas were expected to be heaviest from Dodge City to Russell, while areas south and east of Interstate 35 were expected to see the lightest accumulations, ranging from 3 to 4 inches.

“It’s a pretty big storm system,” Cook said. “It’s really tapping the moisture from the Gulf and the sheer strength of the storm is leading to really heavy snow.”

Elsewhere, accumulations were expected to range from 2 to 4 inches in Wichita, 4 to 6 inches in the Kansas City metropolitan area, 5 to 8 inches in Topeka and 8 to 11 inches in Manhattan.

“I wouldn’t say it’s atypical for the time of year,” Cook said. “This time of the year you get real strong storms and they’re starting to track a little further south.”

The slow-moving storm gave state officials plenty of time to prepare.

The Kansas Department of Transportation had crews on standby Sunday night and were out at 6 a.m. on Monday with sand and salt, Kansas Department of Transportation spokeswoman Kim Stich said.

“Our crews in Topeka were ready by Friday afternoon in preparation, because this was a fairly predictable storm,” she said. “We’ve known about this quite a while.”

Edna Buttler of the Kansas Highway Patrol said her office is continually monitoring the weather and had not reported any accidents Monday morning.

The storm is expected to make its way out of Kansas by early Tuesday.