Wednesday’s freezing rain and sleet rudely blasted out Tuesday’s warmth, and forecasters expect snow to fall today.

Perhaps anywhere from 3 to 9 inches of snow could blanket the region by Friday morning, National Weather Service forecasters predicted.

“We are going to have snow on top of our layer of ice, so it’s definitely a winter mix of precipitation. That ice is definitely the thing that makes traveling so dangerous – just treacherous if you are driving or walking,” said Jennifer Stark, a warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Topeka.

The National Weather Service extended a heavy snow warning until Friday morning for Douglas, Franklin, Osage, Lyon, Coffey and Anderson counties.

As the freezing rain and sleet started to come down Wednesday afternoon, the wintry weather had some Lawrence residents scrambling.

Kansas University senior Stephanie Schmid, of El Paso, Texas, spent Wednesday afternoon at Westlake Ace Hardware, 711 W. 23rd St., replacing her ice scraper and picking up tubes of sand to give her pickup truck more traction.

“I think I’m going to have to walk to my 8 o’clock class at (Joseph R. Pearson Hall) tomorrow, and I’m going to hate it,” Schmid said.

Hardware stores reported several requests for ice scrapers, ice-melting substances and sand.

“I think we usually see this the first storm of the year. Everybody kind of waits until they are sure it’s coming,” said Linda Cottin, who owns Cottin’s Hardware & Rental, 1832 Mass., with her husband, Tom.

As the temperatures started to drop early Wednesday, street, road and utility crews prepared for the worst.

Despite the constant efforts to keep Lawrence streets and county roads safe, the freezing overnight temperatures will still likely make roads icy and slick this morning.

“We’re trying to keep everything moving tonight, and we will take it as it comes tomorrow,” said Chuck Soules, Lawrence’s director of public works.

Soules had a city crew of 20 workers dropping sand and a salt mix on city streets Wednesday. A second shift started Wednesday afternoon and was expected to work until 4 a.m. today.

Soules said Wednesday that the department was getting reports of mostly slushy streets but also some slick spots, including on the Kansas River bridge.

Mike Perkins, operations manager for Douglas County Public Works, said county crews spent Wednesday treating the roads to mitigate ice problems today.

National Weather Service forecasters warned residents to keep driving to a minimum as many Lawrence evening activities were canceled. Forecasters also advised residents to be prepared for possible power outages.

Erin Dehn, a Westar Energy spokeswoman, said company crews were monitoring the storm in case they needed to repair outages.

The abrupt 50-degree temperature change in less than 24 hours resulted from a cold front that moved into the region to disrupt a system of winds blowing from the south, Stark said.

Soules advised drivers to be cautious today.

“People should just take it easy and plan on it taking a little bit longer to get places,” he said. “Slow down, and if you don’t have to get out, don’t.”

The icy roads led to a wreck Wednesday morning on the Kansas Turnpike that killed a 24-year-old Lawrence woman. A dispatcher for the turnpike said there were approximately 60 wrecks statewide between about 10:25 a.m. – when conditions became slick – and about 10:30 p.m., but that no others involved serious injuries.

Dispatchers for Douglas County reported a total of 18 noninjury accidents – half in the city limits and half in the outlying areas of the county – between roughly 11 a.m. and 10:30 p.m., but no wrecks resulting in serious injury.