The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Weather Advisory for Hamilton and Wenham through 5 a.m. on Tuesday.

In the advisory issued at about 8:15 p.m. on Monday, the weather service is predicting between two and five inches of snow by 5 a.m. At 8:30 p.m., there was about two inches of snow on the ground in Hamilton and Wenham.

The weather service also said that the steadiest snow will fall before midnight before tapering to snow showers.

The mostly unanticipated snow storm that moved in quickly on Monday afternoon left roads snow and ice covered and slippery.

No major incidents were reported from the snow, which began to fall at about 2 p.m. Less than an inch of snow had accumulated by 4 p.m.

In Wenham, police handled several accidents along Route 1A, including one just south of the Cherry Street intersection, one near Linden Street and one near Wenham Lake. None involved serious injury.

The Hamilton police and Fire Department also called to a crash on Route 1A where nobody was hurt.

The snow covered roads slowed traffic along Route 1A to a crawl by 3 p.m.

Road crews from both towns and the state Department of Transportation were out sanding and salting during the storm too. By 8:30 p.m. about 2 inches of snow had fallen and the snow was still coming down at a moderate rate.