As of 4 p.m. most of Chickasha has been without electrical service. PSO officials say crews are being brought in from other states to help re-establish power to customers in this area.

Click here for PSO's list of communities with outages.

Click here to report a PSO service area outage.

Wednesday's 65-degree temperatures were just a tease, because as predicted for days, a mix of wintry precipitation coupled with freezing or below temperatures moved into the state early Thursday morning.

And, conditions deteriotated in a hurry across Oklahoma.

A thin glaze of ice was beginning to collect on roadways mid-morning in central and western parts of the state, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

The mess began early.

State Troopers responded to the first ice-related wreck on I-40 near Elk City about 7:30 a.m. At about 8:10 a.m., another ice-related accident closed I-40 at US 81 in El Reno.

Eastbound I-40 west of Weatherford was also closed about 9:20 a.m. because of an overturned tractor-trailer rig, the patrol reported.

Many schools district announced closings Wednesday, in anticipation of the winter storm that is expected to bring up to an inch of ice in some areas, topped with two to seven inches of snow. Some had already decided to close Friday as well and other said they would make decisions later Thursday.

Chickasha Public Schools were closed Thursday and Superintendent Jim Glaze said Thursday morning the district would be closed Friday.l.

"It's starting to stick out there," Glaze said at about 10:30 a.m. "It's going to get bad. We are going to shut down Friday as well."

Glaze also said Chickasha's wrestling homecoming dual has been postponed and the Chickasha Wrestling Tournament that was scheduled for this weekend has been cancelled. Also, the Chicks and Lady Chicks won't be traveling to Midwest City tonight to play a Suburban Conference basketball game against Carl Albert.

Check chickashanews.com for the latest developments on road conditions and additional closings.

Oklahoma was under a winter storm warning Thursday through 6 a.m. Friday.

A winter storm warning means significat amounts of snow and sleet are anticipated, making travel very hazardous or impossible in some areas.

The ice accumulation on power lines, coupled with wind gusts of up to 30 miles an hour, is a recipe for widespread power outages.

There were already outages reported in the state before noon Thursday. Ice accumulations snapped electrical lines in southwestern Oklahoma, knocking out power to 100 electrical customers in Kiowa County near Hobart, said Andrea Chancellor, spokeswoman for Public Service Company of Oklahoma.

Emergency managers in the region said they expected more power outages as the storm intensified.

"With the amount of ice we're getting on the lines, probably this afternoon parts of town will be in the dark," said Hobart Police Chief Rex Brown.

Matt Lehenbauer, emergency manager in Woodward County in northwestern Oklahoma, said forecasters were predicting 14 to 16 inches of snow in the area.

"It looks like we're going to get more snow than ice," Lehenbauer said. "Our biggest concern is the loss of power."

Gov. Brad Henry declared a statewide emergency on Wednesday for all 77 counties to help transportation crews and emergency responders prepare for it.

Terri Angier of the Oklahoma Department of Transportation said the agency discouraged travel in the region.

"We are asking people to please stay home today," Angier said. She said the storm appeared as intense as a Christmas Eve blizzard that dumped up to 14 inches of snow on parts of the state, stranding scores of motorists on snow-choked roads.

Airlines canceled more than 50 flights at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City over concerns about icing on aircraft, said Karen Carney, public information and marketing manager.

Local residents flocked to grocery stores and hardware stories Wednesday to stock up on food, water, batteries and other essentials to ride out the storm.