Whizzing winds Saturday afternoon sent more than just snowflakes whirling through the atmosphere. Eight-year-old Isabella Palazzo’s new inflatable orange sled blew away, too.

But chasing it down and continuing her slippery cavorts on a snow-covered hill near Memorial Stadium was well worth the effort, she said, because she wasn’t having any luck with her snowboard.

Branden Swanson, 8, left, gets a snowball in the face from his friend Ammon Austin, 9. The two waged the snowball war Saturday at Ammon's house. Today is expected to be cold and cloudy. For the full forecast, see page 8B.

“I tried, but I fell on my face twice,” she said, pointing to an abandoned snowboard midway down the slope.

Adventurous souls peppered campus hillsides Saturday, braving 20 degree temperatures and 25 to 30 mph wind gusts to skim over the 1 to 2 inches of snow that coated Lawrence Friday night and Saturday morning.

The blanket of snow may have seemed deeper than 2 inches, said Wes Etheredge, meteorologist with WeatherData, a private forecasting service in Wichita. But that was an illusion created by steady winds that blew the loose, dry flakes into drifts, he said.

The illusion was realistic enough to make for excellent sledding conditions, said Liz Palazzo, who has taken to the hills with her daughter, Isabella, and 10-year-old son, Alexander, every time it’s snowed this winter.

“Are you kidding? We live at this hill. We come out if there’s this much snow,” she said, squeezing her thumb and forefinger together until they almost touched.

Other area residents had less fun in Saturday’s slick conditions. Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical treated at least four people who lost their footing on icy or snowy surfaces. Two of those patients were taken to Lawrence Memorial Hospital with hip injuries, said firefighter/paramedic Darren Thomas.

As the flurries tapered off Saturday, wind gusts of up to 30 mph blew snow across highways, decreasing drivers’ visibility, said Scott Dergan, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Topeka.

Bob McColl makes fast work of removing snow from the driveway and sidewalks of a home on Crescent Road. McColl cleared snow Saturday afternoon after Lawrence received about 2 inches.

Compacted snowdrifts on U.S. Highway 56 between Baldwin and Baldwin Junction caused trouble for motorists and Douglas County Sheriff’s deputies, who on Saturday afternoon worked three accidents involving six vehicles, Lt. Kathy Tate said. Though no one was seriously injured, deputies stopped traffic in both directions while wreckers pulled a Jeep and a pickup truck out of the ditch, Tate said.

Ivan M. Vardijan, 19, Kansas City, Kan., died early Saturday morning after losing control of his car on Leavenworth Road several miles east of Basehor and striking a bridge pillar, the Kansas Highway Patrol reported.

One to 4 inches of snow fell across the state Friday night and early Saturday, Dergan said. Some observers in rural southeast Kansas reported 5 to 6 inches of snowfall, but those measurements were isolated, he said.

The average precipitation in east-central Kansas was 2 to 4 inches, with 1 to 2 inches on the ground northeast and 2 to 3 inches covering the plains of western Kansas, he said.

The Lawrence area should be dry today with no real rebound in temperature, Etheredge said. Expect highs in the teens and lows in the single digits.

Temperatures should begin to creep back to normal Monday, with highs in the 30s and 40s. Tuesday should bring highs from 45 to 50.