By KALEY LYON

klyon@dailynews.net

While Hays residents awoke this morning to only a few flakes of white flitting across the sky, other Kansans woke up to a winter wonderland.

As far west as Goodland, about 2 inches of snow had accumulated, coupled with 50 mph winds. The winter weather reduced visibility to about a half mile and spurred school closings in Goodland, Colby, Bird City-Cheylin, Brewster and St. Francis.

"We didn't get a ton of snow, but it's basically the reduction of visibility that's been the issue," said Kelly James, a meteorologist with Goodland's National Weather Service. "Avoid travel if you can, but I know that's easier said than done."

In Ellis County, high winds posed the biggest threat. A wind advisory was in effect until this afternoon, cautioning that gusts could be as strong as 50 mph.

In fact, the wind tore down a 30-foot limb from a large tree in front of Derek Raynesford's home in Hays, knocking down power lines and trapping his three children inside.

Around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, when Raynesford had left to go pick up his wife from work, the children heard a loud crackling sound, then lost electricity.

"The power lines came down and crossed over each other, and they were sparking," Raynesford said this morning.

City police and firefighters were notified and spent nearly three hours helping in cleanup efforts and finding a way for the children to make it safely out of the house, he said.

The Raynesford family lives on West 12th Street, and the whole block was without power until the situation could be resolved, he said.

According to local utility Midwest Energy, however, there haven't been any reports of extensive damage to power lines or electricity outages in the area.

There was a power line down near Atwood, and another line was taken out west of McDonald, spokesman Bob Helm said, noting most of the damage stayed west of Quinter.

"As of right now, it hasn't been that bad," Helm said.

In addition to the wind and snow, flood warnings have been issued for several Kansas counties. As of this morning, a flood warning remained in effect for the Solomon River's south fork, which was 2 feet above flood stage, said meteorologist Larry Ruthi with Dodge City's National Weather Service.

But, as typical for Kansas this time of year, the weather isn't expected to stay this way for long, he said.

While much of western Kansas could wake Friday to one of the season's first frosts, it's expected to be as warm as 70 degrees by this weekend, he said.

"We will see quite a dramatic change. ... It will be warmer next week, and most of next week looks pretty quiet -- and kind of normal for this time of year," Ruthi said.