STERLING – Cars slid into ditches, businesses sent employees home and schools dismissed early as a windy winter snowstorm blew into the Sauk Valley Tuesday afternoon – and kept on blowing.

Whiteside County had received about 4 to 6 inches of snow as of 7 p.m., said Tom Olsen, hydro-meteorological technician with National Weather Service in the Quad Cities.

Ashton, the only town in Lee County with available snowfall measures, got 4 inches, said Charles Mott, meteorologist with National Weather Service in Chicago.