By Liz Oakes
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Rain and rising temperatures today may clear away remains of a winter storm that dumped up to 6 inches of snow on the Tristate Sunday, sending motorists into a tailspin.

Diane Watkins, assistant superintendent of traffic and road operations for Cincinnati, said main streets should be "passable" this morning - unless additional snow or ice hits. "We anticipate at least getting people into the city in the morning."

Cincinnati Public Schools gave its 40,000 students the day off, and other districts announced delays and were waiting to see if roads would be clear.

The storm shut down part of Interstate 75 and other roadways, left scores stranded at the local airport, canceled events and closed shopping centers. Dozens of accidents were reported.

Covington police described the I-75 cut in the hill as "impassable" after deciding at 4:30 p.m. to close the stretch from the 12th Street exit to Kyles Lane in Kenton County. It reopened by 6 p.m.

District 3 police in Cincinnati also shut Queen City Avenue and Lafeuille in Westwood after numerous cars got stuck on the hill.

At least a dozen communities in Ohio and Kentucky declared a "snow emergency." Butler County and Kenton County declared a Level 2 emergency, asking people to drive only when necessary.

In Franklin County, roads were closed to all but emergency vehicles.

As of 5 p.m., Delta Air Lines had canceled 31 flights out of Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, and nine other flights delayed takeoff for up to 90 minutes, said spokeswoman Jenny Dervin.

She said she had no number on how many incoming flights were canceled or delayed.

Dervin said Delta officials were expecting operations to return to normal by this morning.

Northgate Mall was closed by 5 p.m., and Turfway Park in Florence canceled live racing.

The weather was a mixed blessing for business at the Holiday Inn Express near I-75 in Fort Mitchell.

"We did have more walk-ins," said Sam Kumar, who was manning the front desk. "It's been a little more than normal."

But for some hoops fans, snow was no deterrent.

Xavier University officials said they didn't even consider canceling Sunday's game. With 10,013 people in attendance at the Cintas Center in Evanston, the game drew one of the largest crowds of the season.

But the Musketeers still lost, 53-44, to Richmond.

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Salt crews tried to prepare by pretreating roads Saturday afternoon after forecasters warned a snowstorm would hit.

Twelve hours before the first flakes began to fall, 52 drivers were called in at midnight to start pouring salt on the pavement, said Greg Ayers, assistant supervisor of public service operations.

At 5:30 a.m., 31 Ohio Department of Transportation crews were salting interstate highways.

By 10 a.m., the crews working 12-hour shifts already had laid 200 to 250 tons of salt on the city's 1,700 miles of streets.

Snow is expected to return late today into Tuesday, as colder air moves back into the region.

Today, the temperature is expected to reach the high 30s with rain beginning mid-morning.

Robin Gerhardt, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said most of the ice and snow should be gone Tuesday.

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Maggie Downs, Anna Michael and William A. Weathers contributed. E-mail loakes@enquirer.com