Readers arising this morning may wake up to a blanket of white and encounter slippery roads on their way into work or school.

Old man winter came on with a vengeance to people of North Alabama, beginning with snow showers Tuesday night that continued until 6.53 inches of rain had fallen by midday Thursday, according to the National Weather Service Office in Huntsville.

More rain fell throughout Thursday afternoon and changed to snow just before dusk. Forecasters expected the snow to stop within two hours as suddenly as it began.

Kurt Webber of the Weather Service Office said that there could have been up to an inch of snowfall, but areas to the west, in the Shoals and Russellville, reported as much as 4 inches by 6 p.m. Thursday.

An uprooted tree, possibly loosened by heavy rains, fell on a power line and tripping a substation, knocking out power to 5,000 Athens Utilities customers at about 6:30 a.m. Thursday. Utilities General Manager Gary Scroggins said power was off to those customers for about 45 minutes before being restored. He said all vehicles in the Electric Department fleet were gassed up and ready should there be power outages Thursday night.

“The most accumulation will be on grassy or elevated areas,” said Webber.

He said the problems motorists might be experiencing this morning would come more from falling temperatures freezing accumulations of moisture still on the ground.

“The slick conditions will be due to the temperature drop rather than the snow itself,” said Webber.

While there were no school closings in The News Courier readership area, Athens Bible School was to open at 10 a.m. today as well as Faith Christian Academy School, which canceled morning care.

Athens State University canceled evening classes for Thursday night. Final exams scheduled for Thursday evening will be made up Dec. 18.

According to The Associated Press, at least 10 school systems dismissed students early because of the possibility of flooding or snow.

Forecasters issued a flash flood watches and warnings for the northern two-thirds of the state, and three Madison County schools had to dismiss students early because rising water in low-lying, rural areas threatened to cover roads.

The weather service confirmed three tornado strikes in the state on Wednesday. No one was hurt, but a twister heavily damaged an elementary school in Oakman and damaged homes and other buildings in several communities.

Conditions were supposed to improve by Friday, when clearing skies and temperatures in the 50s were forecast.