Karla Arias, left, and Margarita Herrera, both second-graders at Central Elementary School, play in the snow at the end of the school day Friday in Dodge City, as a snow storm moved through southwestern Kansas.

Garden City ? Heavy snow fell over parts of western Kansas on Friday, reducing visibility for motorists and forcing some schools to close early.

More than 11 inches fell in Hamilton County, where sheriff’s dispatcher Bill Kryger said the county courthouse and a few businesses closed early. Kansas Highway 50 was closed from Syracuse east to Lakin.

“We’re not officially shut down, but people are being wise and staying home,” Kryger said.

A few minor accidents had been reported, including a couple of tractor-trailers that had jackknifed, but Kryger said nobody has been injured.

“We’ve cleaned up a couple of messes,” Kryger said. “Mostly cars in ditches.”

In Dodge City, truck stop worker Sylvia Smith-Metcalf said conditions were so bad that she would not be able to make the 30-mile drive home to Jetmore when her shift ended.

“They got me a motel room right next door,” Smith-Metcalf said. “I’m supposed to get off work at 10, provided the person on the next shift can get in. If they can’t, then I’m going to have to work a double.”

Dodge City police urged motorists to stay off the roads and implemented an emergency accident reporting system. Instead of calling officers to accident scenes, drivers involved in wrecks were asked to exchange information and make police reports later.

Snowfall varied from close to a foot near Syracuse to 4 inches near Goodland, the National Weather Service said. The heaviest accumulations were expected along a line stretching from Tribune to Gove and Hill City.

Close to 4 inches was expected in the southeast part of the state before the storm system moves on to Missouri late Friday or early today, the weather service said.

A winter storm warning for the region was issued Thursday ahead of the storm.

Some schools in the area closed early after snow started falling about 8:30 a.m. The Kansas Highway Patrol discouraged motorists from heading out, said trooper Ron Knoefel in Garden City.

“The visibility is just terrible, and we continue to get snow as we speak,” he said.