Dire warnings notwithstanding, most of Nebraska escaped the latest winter storm relatively unscathed.

The exception was far Southeast Nebraska, where a heavy accumulation of ice downed tree limbs and power lines. Several hundred customers remained without power Tuesday night.

The Interstate 80 corridor served as the dividing line between snow to the north and significant icing to the south, the National Weather Service said.  A swath of 3- to 5-inch snows ran from near Columbus east to Little Sioux, Iowa.

South of the interstate, freezing rain produced ice accumulations around three-quarters of an inch in Southeast Nebraska and southwest Iowa, mainly from Beatrice to Falls City and Auburn, into southwest Iowa near Hamburg and Clarinda. 

Along Interstate 80 from Lincoln to Omaha, ice accumulations of two-tenths to four-tenths of an inch were reported as freezing rain developed late Monday evening. A slow transition to snow occurred overnight and Tuesday morning.  A prolonged period of sleet kept both ice and snow accumulations down a bit, and spared most areas from major travel and power outage problems.

Lincoln

The storm brought a quarter of an inch of ice or less to the Lincoln area and a dusting of snow. The winter storm warning, originally in effect until 6 p.m., was canceled early Tuesday afternoon.

Lincoln Electric System reported no outages and Lincoln police no significant increase in accidents. Police still urged drivers to go slowly, especially on residential streets and at intersections, turn lanes and on bridges. StarTran buses ran on time.

All Lincoln and parochial schools closed, along with most other schools in the area. Smaller colleges closed as well, but the University of Nebraska-Lincoln remained open.

Late Tuesday afternoon, city street crews continued to salt emergency snow routes, arterial streets and bus routes. Plans were for the material spreading operation to continue through the night.

Fatality near Kearney

In Buffalo County, 47-year-old Laurie Shrader of Ravenna was killed when she lost control of her car and hit a snowplow 14 miles south of Ravenna.

The Buffalo County Sheriff’s office said Shrader died at the scene. The driver of the snowplow — Bryan Hibberd, 41, of Kearney — and a passenger were uninjured.

 The sheriff’s office said bad weather contributed to the accident. About 4 inches of snow was reported in the Ravenna area.

Cancellations, postponements

Some flights in and out of Omaha’s Eppley Airfield were canceled, and the funeral of one of the Omaha mall shooting victims, Beverly Flynn, was postponed until Wednesday.

Some got more snow

As travelers headed north Tuesday morning, the amount of snow increased.

National Weather Service meteorologist John Pollack said 4 to 5 inches fell along a line from Norfolk east into Iowa.

“There was a lot of moisture, and the real question was what form you got it in,” Pollack said.

Looking ahead

Today’s forecast is for mostly cloudy skies with a high near 28 degrees. The sun should peek through on Thursday, with highs around 32.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.