Late-season Winter Storm Achilles battered the Great Plains, Rockies, and Midwest with a vengeance, dumping record snow in some towns while dropping temperatures to record levels in others.

"Winter Storm Achilles will go down in history as one of the greatest snowstorms so late in the season for the Midwest," said weather.com meteorologist . "Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota may have set new state snowfall records for the month of May. Snow was reported in Arkansas for the first time in recorded history during the month of May."

(MORE: | )

Bobbi Howe's daughters, 10-year-old Emma and 7-year-old Averie, stayed home in the southeastern Minnesota city of Owatonna, where 15.5 inches of snow made it hard for the family to open their front door. Owatonna was one of dozens of Minnesota and Wisconsin school districts that canceled classes for the day.

"I'm hoping they stay outside for most of the day and I'll just provide hot chocolate when they come in," Bobbi Howe said.

For Emma, the promise of a late spring snow day felt a little less like paradise.

"It's not cool," Emma said, adding that she was tired of winter and would rather be at school. "I don't like the snow right now."

(MORE: )

A winter weather advisory was also in effect for parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Snow fell in parts of Nebraska, and western Iowa received as much as 10 inches of snow by Thursday morning.

The storm was welcomed in Colorado and Wyoming because it boosted the snowpack that provides the region's water supply. Both states are in a drought but have benefited from several rounds of spring snow. However, the recent storms have largely missed southwestern Colorado, which remains dry and at risk for wildfires.

About 5 inches fell near Denver, where the snow was making the roads a sloppy mess. The snow wasn't sticking much to the pavement, still warm after recent temperatures in the 70s, but it clung to grassy areas and flowers.

Nancy Keller of Owatonna said her three kids were getting fed up with the endless winter. She said several of their tennis, soccer matches and field trips already have been postponed.

"They're getting tired of having things canceled," Keller said.

Such was the sentiment in other states that also got slammed by the two-day storm which dropped a wintry mix of snow and rain Wednesday from Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming into Nebraska, South Dakota and Iowa. It delivered the first May snowfall in Sioux Falls, S.D., in 37 years, knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses in several states, forced the closure of major roads and was a factor in at least one fatal crash early Thursday in Wisconsin between two semis on Interstate 94 near Menomonie.

"Overall, snow will be winding down on Friday from northwest Wisconsin and southeast Minnesota southward through Iowa and northern/western Missouri," said Dolce.

A cow stands in a feedlot amid falling snow near Grimes, Iowa. (Image: AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report