From staff and wire reports

FINDLAY -- A winter storm system blamed for three deaths in the Midwest and Great Lakes regions spread a hazardous mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain through Ohio on Sunday.

Northeast Ohio was under a winter storm warning until about 10 p.m. on Sunday. Most of northern Ohio was expected to remain under a wind advisory through this morning, with gusts as strong as 40 mph and blowing snow expected to reduce visibility for drivers near Lake Erie, the National Weather Service said.

Locally, several counties in the Defiance area were under a level one road/snow advisory. That means the roads are snow covered and icy, and motorists should drive carefully.

Defiance, Henry, Putnam and Fulton counties had a level one road advisory in effect. Those advisories will remain in effect until lifted by each county's sheriff's office. There was no driving advisory in Williams County this morning.

Paulding County lifted its level two road advisory this morning.

Information from Sheriff Dave Harrow, though, warns that some county roads are still in bad condition.

"There are still a significant number of roads that are ice covered and very hazardous, with occasional drifted spots where the roadway may be down to one lane or less," the sheriff's office said in a statement.

Defiance city lifted its parking ban downtown this morning, but will reinstate it at 11 p.m.

"That is for us to get the snow out of the downtown area," said Jeff Leonard, city administrator. "It will be lifted at 7 a.m. Tuesday."

The slick, snow-covered roadways caused numerous school closings for the day. Closed were all schools in Defiance, Henry, Putnam and Paulding counties; Four County Career Center in rural Archbold; Edgerton Local and Millcreek-West Unity Local in Williams County; Evergreen Local, Gorham-Fayette Local, Pike-Delta-York Local, Swanton Local and Wauseon Exempted Village in Fulton County; Vantage Career Center in Van Wert; and St. Louis Catholic in Custar.

Operating on a two-hour delay were Archbold Area and Pettisville Local in Fulton County; and Bryan City, Edon-Northwest Local, Montpelier Exempted Village, North Central Local and Stryker Local in Williams County.

According to the National Weather Service, approximately five to nine inches of snow fell in the six-county area over the weekend.

Some stores say they had a rush as the storm ushered into the area.

"Saturday we were pretty busy all day long. It could have been the snow coming or Christmas or both," said Amber Yeary of Meijer.

"When the storm was coming in it was busy, but yesterday was very slow," said Kyle Rogalski of Kmart. "We were actually busier than normal. Everyone was getting ready for the storm."

Temperatures in northeast Ohio dropped from 37 degrees at 6 a.m. to 27 degrees by mid-afternoon on Sunday. Almost five inches of snow fell between noon and 4 p.m. at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, where about 40 percent of flights were canceled as snow squalls at times pushed visibility to nearly zero, airport commissioner Fred Szabo said.

"It's been quite a day today, even with all the high-speed snow removal equipment and manpower we have," he said Sunday. "As soon as you finish clearing a runway, it starts to get contaminated again."

Six to eight inches of snow could fall on northeast Ohio by early today, the National Weather Service said.

About 70 road crews were working 12-hour shifts for the Ohio Department of Transportation to plow highways across the region.

A motorist struck a parked police squad car on I-90 in Cleveland, causing authorities to close the freeway at around 5:30 p.m., police said. The officer had been dealing with another accident just before his car was hit, police said.

Hancock County was under a level three snow emergency until about 6:30 p.m. Sunday. All roadways were closed to non-emergency vehicles, and officials said anyone traveling through the county was subject to arrest unless they were involved in an emergency.

In Cleveland, the Browns and the Buffalo Bills played in blizzard-like conditions as the storm dumped snow on the Lake Erie shoreline.

Stadium groundskeepers did their best to keep the yard lines, sidelines and hashmarks visible, but as soon as they completed one attempt, they had to start another to keep up with the white stuff.

The weather didn't deter Bills fans, who rose early for a bus trip from Buffalo, N.Y., to Cleveland for the game. "Rain, snow, sleet, whatever, we'll be there," Brian Kras said, boarding a chartered bus at 5:30 a.m.

It was 30 degrees at game time, with a wind chill of 18. By halftime, thousands of anxious fans had left the stadium before it was too late to make the hazardous drive home.

The Bills were forced to spend Sunday night in Cleveland after their charter flight home was canceled.