JUNEAU - Dodge County Highway commissioner Brian Field said good news accompanied the first big snow storm to hit Dodge County this winter.

"The good news is that It's December, so we made it through November without a major snow fall," he said.

Field said the storm system that moved into the Dodge County area Sunday afternoon brought lower temperatures and more ice than typical first storms of the season.

Cost and availability issues with salt have forced officials to use a sand-salt mix, rather than straight salt to clear the ice and snow from roadways.

"There is going to be a difference," Field said. "Things won't be melted off to bare pavement as with salt."

Field urges motorists to drive accordingly by allowing extra travel time and eliminating unnecessary trips.

In a weather-related accident a motorist was treated for hypothermia Sunday after a vehicle plunged 20 feet off a bridge into a creek.

The vehicle was southbound on Highway 41, north of Highway 28, in the town of Theresa when the crash occurred Sunday night around 8:45 p.m. The vehicle rolled over and fell 20 feet from the bridge into the creek, according to the Dodge County Sheriff's Office.

The snowstorm caused power outages and school cancellations around southestern Wisconsin. Most schools in Dodge County started late, but did not cancel classes.

The National Weather Service says the heaviest band of snow was six to 10 inches, which fell from around Sheboygan south to West Bend and Port Washington and west to Oconomowoc, Whitewater and La Grange.

Winds of 15 to 30 miles per hour produced blowing and drifting snow.

We Energies spokesman Barry McNulty says about 1,700 people were without power this morning in parts of the Milwaukee, Washington, Ozaukee and Racine counties. That's down from the peak of 19,000 between midnight and 3 a.m.