With spring equinox a fortnight away, winter showed its full force this week.

Schools began closing at noon Thurs­day as meteorologists upped their forecast for record-breaking snow accumulations.

DRC/Gary Payne

Yadira Ortega, right, and her friend Janet Aguilar look at the view from a pedestrian bridge at Texas Woman’s University on Thursday. The campus closed at 2 p.m. because of the snow. Click here for more weather-related photos.

Traffic along Interstate 35 at times was brought to a standstill as people tried to make it home before conditions worsened.

Sheriff’s deputies responded to 74 accidents between 8:45 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. Thursday, but there were no serious injuries, according to Sgt. Roger Griggs.

National Weather Service meteorologist Dan Shoemaker said midday Thurs­day that there would be 3 to 5 inches of snow in some areas in Denton County. By early evening, reports indicated up to 7 inches of snow around Denton. Neigh­boring Cooke County received up to 9 inches.

About 11 a.m. Thursday, a storm moved through the Dallas-Fort Worth area and began dumping sleet, but it quickly turned to snow, Shoemaker said. By mid-afternoon, snow and slush had accumulated on streets across Denton, making for treacherous driving conditions.

The snow was expected to pick up overnight, dumping another inch. The winter storm advisory is expected to be in place until 6 a.m. today.

The Denton school district canceled classes and activities for today, and other schools are expected to remain closed through at least early today.

Officials with the Texas Department of Transportation in Denton said they dispatched sanding trucks at the beginning of the storm and expected to work through the night to keep roads and bridges clear.

Many people found their daily routines disrupted by the snowstorm.

DRC/Al Key

Traffic on Interstate 35 between Denton and Sanger experienced near white-out conditions at times on Thursday. Click here for more weather-related photos.

John Neuberger, a University of North Texas mathematics professor, was on his way to campus when he learned classes had been canceled.

“So, I thought I’d hang out here a little while,” Neuberger said, sipping coffee inside a downtown coffeehouse while, outside a window, a young couple snapped photos of a snow-blanketed courthouse lawn.

The snow “is amazing this late in the year,” Neuberger said, but added, “I doubt it’s a record.”

Indeed, while uncommon, this isn’t the first time that a winter flurry has come so late in the season.

Downtown Fort Worth, the official site of record before Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport opened in the 1970s, received 6 inches of snow on March 13, 1924, and 3.9 inches on March 7, 1947.

The latest snowfall in the year came on April 14, 1928, when a trace fell in downtown Fort Worth.

March 6 distinguished itself in 1931 and 1967 when snow fell, but those snowfalls weren’t like Thursday’s.

“We have set a record or we certainly will today,” Shoemaker said.

With everything from the Denton Chamber of Commerce’s mega-mixer to night classes canceled, the best thing to do was nothing at all.

“Drive slow and stay home would be the best thing to do,” Shoemaker said.

For Michael Bagley, the storm couldn’t have come on a worse day.

Bagley, an unemployed cook, said he was evicted from his home earlier in the day because he couldn’t pay his bills.

“It’s a cold day to get kicked out of your house,” Bagley said, waiting at a downtown Denton bus stop.

Bagley said he was killing time until the Salvation Army shelter opened later in the afternoon.

“They’re going to be packed tonight,” he said.