Just one week after a round of winter weather tormented Kansas, another storm has blanketed much of the state with snow.

“Round two,” said 6News chief meteorologist Jennifer Schack.

Steve Kays, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Topeka, said at 8:30 p.m. that Lawrence had received between 1 to 2 inches of snow with probably 2 more inches accumulating by sunrise this morning before the storm starts to leave the area.

On Saturday, Lawrence residents braced for the snowfall and made preparations to stay home at least for today by stocking up on food and other items.

“We’re hopefully finishing up, and we have a pot of chili to go home to,” said Lauren Kernes, a Kansas University graduate student from Lawrence.

Kernes was picking out some movies at 6 p.m. with her boyfriend, Bryan Park, also a KU graduate student, at Family Video Rental, 1818 Mass., in case they needed to stay inside for the long haul. Within the next hour, the snow started to come down more heavily, and it made driving conditions more hazardous.

Kernes was also relieved that she did her grocery shopping at Checkers Foods, 2300 La., earlier in the day.

“It was insanely crowded. It took forever,” she said.

A check of several grocery stores around Lawrence on Saturday night showed they were still busy as of 7:30 p.m.

Douglas County emergency dispatchers said Saturday evening that Lawrence police and Douglas County Sheriff’s officers fielded about 50 calls for motorist assists or accidents in the city and county, but no major injuries were reported.

By Saturday night, dispatchers and spokesmen for law enforcement in area counties, the Kansas Highway Patrol and the Kansas Turnpike Authority also reported slide-offs and accidents but no serious injuries.

In Lawrence, the thicker snowflakes had started to hinder visibility, and the streets became more snow-packed Saturday evening, which caused vehicles to fishtail and drivers to pump their brakes while coming to stops.

“Everything’s slow speed. People are driving pretty slow. No one’s really been injured,” said Sgt. Damon Thomas, a Lawrence police spokesman.

Schack said this weekend’s storm won’t include a blast of Arctic air like there was after last week’s storm. Temperatures will stay around freezing, though, meaning the snow will stick around.

The winter weather made many roadways treacherous around the state, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a snow advisory for most of Kansas, initially slated to end at 6 a.m. today.

While the most intense accumulation is expected to end this morning, a few flurries could linger through the first part of the week, making traveling difficult, Schack said.

The snow storm began off the California coast earlier last week, she said, and it dumped snow across portions of California, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas before it got to Kansas.

The heaviest snowfall during the day Saturday hit western and central Kansas, causing at least one three-vehicle highway accident that left three people dead on U.S. Highway 50 in Reno County.

Roads were snow-packed and icy in and around Garden City, and the Kansas Highway Patrol reported fender benders throughout southwestern Kansas. But no major weather-related accidents were reported there.

Western Kansas was hit hard by two storms in late December and was declared a major disaster after thousands of residents were left without power.

At the peak of the storms that swept the state Dec. 28 through 31, more than 66,300 customers were without power. The storm blanketed some counties with nearly 3 feet of snow, with drifts as high as 15 to 16 feet.

For the latest road conditions, call (800) 585-7623 or visit 511.ksdot.org.

A list of winter weather cancellations is available online here at www.ljworld.com.