A risk of significant icing has developed near Emporia.
Coffey and Osage counties are now included in an ice storm warning until noon Thursday. Up to 0.4 inches of ice and half-an-inch of snow are expected in those counties as part of a wintry mix of precipitation impacting the area Wednesday night through late Thursday morning. The Weather Service warns travel will be “near impossible” with power outages and tree damage likely.
Greenwood County is in a separate warning until noon Thursday for up to 0.3 inches of icing possible. Again, power outages and tree damage are considered likely and the travel forecast is listed as nearly impossible.
Lyon and other surrounding counties are in winter weather advisories ending at 6 am Thursday. Up to 0.2 inches of ice and an inch of snow are expected in these counties. The Weather Service says travel will be dangerous until conditions improve.
Due to inclement weather, the following schedule adjustments have been reported:
Education
*USD 253 Emporia Public Schools closed Thursday
*Emporia Sacred Heart School closed Thursday
*Emporia Christian School closed Thursday
*Emporia State University closed Thursday
*Flint Hills Technical College closed Thursday
*USD 251 North Lyon County on 2-hour delay Thursday
*USD 252 Southern Lyon County closed Thursday
*USD 243 Lebo-Waverly closed Thursday
*USD 284 Chase County closed Thursday
*USD 386 Madison Virgil closed Thursday
*USD 390 Hamilton closed Thursday
*USD 390 Hamilton has postponed parent-teacher conferences for Wednesday and Thursday to Feb. 13-14 at the same scheduled times.
*USD 420 Osage City closed Thursday
*USD 421 Lyndon closed Thursday
*USD 434 Santa Fe Trail closed Thursday
*USD 454 Burlingame closed Thursday
*USD 456 Marais des Cygnes closed Thursday
Community
*Emporia Senior Center closed Thursday. All activities, including Friendship Meals service, are canceled.
*Emporia Public Library opening two hours late at 11:00 am
*Emporia Public Library’s Evening Reader book club meeting postponed to Feb. 13
*Emporia Sertoma Club meeting at Pizza Ranch canceled Thursday
*Emporia Friendship Center – Meals on Wheels closed Thursday
*ECKAN Head Start closed Thursday
*L-CAT closed Thursday
*Sunshine Sisters no class Thursday
*Council Grove Public Library closed Thursday
*Osage City monthly senior lunch canceled Thursday
*Osage County Health Department closed at 4 pm. Will reopen at 9 am Thursday
*Overbrook Public Library closed at noon Wednesday
Churches
*Emporia Church of Christ Wednesday evening services canceled
*Emporia Church of the Nazarene activities and services canceled Wednesday
*Emporia First Christian Church women’s meeting canceled Wednesday
*Emporia First Congregational activities canceled Wednesday. Church Women’s Fellowship activities postponed from Wednesday to 1 pm Feb. 14
*Emporia First United Methodist Church’s Halftime classes canceled Wednesday
*Emporia Messiah Lutheran Church’s Bible Study, LOGOS and Ruth Circle activities canceled Wednesday
*Emporia Sacred Heart Church CYF classes and youth group canceled Wednesday
*Emporia Saint Catherine’s Church classes canceled Wednesday
*Life Church of Emporia activities canceled Wednesday
*Emporia Sunrise Freewill Baptist Church activities canceled Wednesday
*Emporia Victory Fellowship Church activities canceled Wednesday
*Burlingame Federated Church activities, including Wednesday Night Bearcats and Bible study, canceled Wednesday
*Burlington St. Francis Xavier Church activities canceled Wednesday
*Carbondale United Church of Christ activities canceled Wednesday
*Flint Hills Community Church in Cottonwood Falls youth activities canceled Wednesday
*Council Grove Christian Church AWANA Club meeting canceled Wednesday
*Harveyville United Methodist Church Community UMW luncheon canceled. Food pantry to open Friday
*Lebo Baptist Church Gen~XYZ activities canceled Wednesday. Bible study canceled Thursday
*Lyndon United Methodist Church activities canceled Wednesday
*Overbrook United Methodist Church activities canceled Wednesday
*Waverly St. Joseph Church evening services and activities canceled Wednesday. CCD classes postponed to Sunday
Medical
*Newman Regional Health Auxiliary volunteers do not need to report through Friday if it is too cold or unsafe to travel
If you have schedule adjustments to report, whether they are closings, cancellations, postponements or delays, call KVOE at 620-342-1400. You can also:
*Email kvoe@kvoe.com.
*Post your information directly to KVOE’s Twitter and Facebook pages.
Stay with KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media for updates.
2:30 pm Wednesday: Weather leads to injury crashes near Emporia; more icing likely overnight
Travel issues have been legion across the KVOE listening area through the day as light freezing rain and mist developed before sunrise and persisted through the day. An accumulating wintry mix of precipitation is now possible overnight, causing its own travel issues.
Emporia is now in Phase III accident reporting, as Police Lt. Kevin Risley explains:
Special crash reporting procedures will be in place at least until midnight. For injury crashes or wrecks where vehicles can’t be moved, Risley says people need to call 9-1-1 for the standard emergency response.
Speaking of wrecks, a rural Emporia teenager was taken to Newman Regional Health after a crash west of town Wednesday. The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office says 16-year-old Aubria Kair was westbound on US Highway 50 and lost control of her pickup around 7:45 am, leaving the highway and rolling several times. Kair was not wearing her seatbelt and was ejected, but authorities say she suffered apparently non-life-threatening injuries.
Several vehicles collided on the Kansas Turnpike about 10 miles north of Emporia shortly after 8 am. The Highway Patrol says a vehicle driven by 25-year-old Shawn Sandlin of Minneapolis was southbound and rear-ended a vehicle driven by 53-year-old Rhonda Cunningham of Emporia. Cunningham’s car was stationary on the right shoulder, but it then rear-ended a southbound vehicle driven by 57-year-old George Tabarez of El Centro, Calif. Less than five minutes later, a semi driven by 69-year-old Vernon Braunschewig of Lansing jackknifed, hit the center barrier wall and then his Sandlin’s vehicle. Sandlin was the only person hurt and was taken to Newman Regional Health for treatment with suspected minor injuries.
Additional details are pending after a reported injury crash in the 3300 block of Road L near Allen.
With up to 0.10 to 0.25 inches of an accumulating wintry mix expected by sunrise Thursday, road crews are monitoring the forecast. Here’s Assistant County Engineer Jim Brull:
Stay with KVOE and KVOE.com for updates — and make sure to connect to KVOE on Twitter@kvoeam1400 or Facebook@kvoenews for instant alerts if you haven’t already done so. If you have schedule adjustments to report, whether they are closings, cancellations, postponements or delays, call KVOE at 620-342-1400 or email kvoe@kvoe.com.
1:30 pm Wednesday: Schedule adjustment list grows rapidly with more icy conditions possible through early Thursday
Slick conditions are now widespread in the KVOE listening area, thanks to stubborn round of freezing drizzle and mist that developed before sunrise.
Emporia Police is now in Phase III accident reporting for the city, meaning folks involved in non-injury crashes where their vehicles can be moved are told to exchange insurance information at the scene and then come to Police Headquarters later — as in possibly Friday or later — if further investigation is needed. Lt. Kevin Risley says this should improve traffic safety, given the number of crashes so far Wednesday.
Special crash reporting procedures will be in place at least until midnight. For injury crashes or wrecks where vehicles can’t be moved, Risley says people need to call 9-1-1 for the standard emergency response.
Several injury crashes were reported between 7:30 and 9 am, with crashes reported in the 300 block of US Highway 50, the 3300 block of Road L just south of Allen and mile marker 137 southbound on the Kansas Turnpike. In addition, noninjury crashes at the West Highway 50 roundabout, mile marker 138 southbound on the Turnpike and the 800 block of Kansas Highway 99 impacted traffic Wednesday morning. Further details on those wrecks are pending.
City, county and KDOT crews are all out and about at this time. Assistant County Engineer Jim Brull says crews went out well before sunrise to start their work.
Off-and-on freezing drizzle could persist into the early evening hours before changing to a wintry mix including freezing drizzle, freezing rain, sleet and snow before midnight. Winter weather advisories continue areawide until 6 am Thursday.
Stay with KVOE and KVOE.com for updates, and be sure to connect to KVOE on Twitter@KVOEAM1400 or Facebook@kvoenews to get instant weather, traffic and schedule adjustments if you have not already done so. If you have schedule adjustments to report, whether they are closings, cancellations, postponements or delays, call KVOE at 620-342-1400 or email kvoe@kvoe.com.
9:15 am Wednesday: Special crash reporting procedures now in place in Emporia with spotty black ice areawide
Freezing drizzle is causing travel conditions to go downhill across the KVOE listening area.
Black ice has set up at times on roads, bridges, intersections, parking lots and sidewalks. In Lyon County, two injury crashes were reported within 15 minutes of each other between 7:30 and 7:45 am, with injury crashes reported in the 300 block of US Highway 50 — about three miles west of Emporia — and in the 3300 block of Road L just south of Allen.
In addition, a multi-vehicle injury crash has been reported on the Kansas Turnpike southbound about 10 miles northeast of Emporia. A separate southbound Turnpike crash about 12 miles northeast of Emporia is listed as blocking both lanes.
Noninjury crashes at the West Highway 50 roundabout and the 800 block of Kansas Highway 99 are also impacting traffic Wednesday morning.
Emporia Police is now in Phase III accident reporting for the city, meaning folks involved in non-injury crashes are told to exchange insurance information at the scene and then come to Police Headquarters later if further investigation is needed.
City, county and KDOT crews are all out and about at this time. Assistant County Engineer Jim Brull says crews went out well before sunrise to start their work.
Widespread slick conditions are also reported in Coffey and Greenwood counties. Road crews are also treating roads in those counties Wednesday morning.
Besides causing the driving issues, the mist is also freezing on windshields — causing another layer of travel difficulties for drivers across the area, especially if defrosters can’t keep up with the freezing mist.
7:30 am Wednesday: Freezing drizzle, mist causing slick roads, obscured windshields
Slick conditions are becoming prevalent in the KVOE listening area.
Lyon County Dispatch reports slick driving now in Emporia, with a weather-related non-injury crash at the West Highway 50 roundabout now snarling traffic. Also, roads remain slick south of Olpe-Hartford Road, so county and KDOT road crews are now out treating roads at this time.
Widespread slick conditions are also reported in Coffey and Greenwood counties. Road crews are also treating roads in those counties Wednesday morning.
The slick conditions come courtesy of occasional freezing drizzle and mist. Besides causing the driving issues, the mist is also freezing on windshields — causing another layer of travel difficulties for drivers across the area.
Off-and-on freezing drizzle could persist into the early evening hours before changing to a wintry mix including freezing drizzle, freezing rain, sleet and snow before midnight.
5:45 am Wednesday: Slick roads developing near Emporia; occasional freezing drizzle could become wintry mix after sunset
Off-and-on freezing drizzle — or at least the risk of that — is in the forecast for the KVOE listening area through sunset.
TV-13 meteorologist Doug Meyers says the daylight hours Wednesday could well be a carbon copy of what we had Tuesday, meaning spotty freezing drizzle across the area that could lead to isolated or widely scattered slick spots for bridges, overpasses and intersections. Meyers is actually focusing his attention on a wintry mix that could cause issues starting Wednesday evening.
There are currently no reports of slick conditions in Emporia or Lyon County, but that’s not the case elsewhere. Greenwood County is reporting slick conditions countywide. In Coffey County, Embankment Road over the John Redmond Reservoir dam is closed until further notice due to ice.
Travel might be affected into Thursday morning, so the National Weather Service has extended all the winter weather advisories across the KVOE listening area to end at 6 am Thursday. Meyers says there could also be isolated power outages starting late Wednesday night, regardless of how much icing we get, as northerly winds pick up to nearly 30 mph.
A number of injury crashes were reported, either in the KVOE listening area or affecting area residents. Some were directly linked to the weather, while investigations continue into others:
*A Lyndon woman was hospitalized in Topeka after a crash in Shawnee County just before 10:30 am. The Kansas Highway Patrol 60-year-old Sherry Harbert was a passenger in a car driven by 28-year-old Brittany Harbert of Lawrence. The younger Harbert was northbound on US Highway 75 and trying to negotiate a ramp near Interstate 470, but she spun out and hit the bridge wall. Both were taken to Stormont-Vail Hospital in Topeka for treatment.
*An injury crash was reported around 9:20 am almost 25 miles southwest of Emporia on the Kansas Turnpike. A car driven by 57-year-old Sheri Lynn Hartley of Perry, Okla., tried to pass a semi driven by 40-year-old Edgar Enrique Villegas of El Paso, Texas, but Hartley lost control due to speed and road conditions. Hartley’s car then hit the center barrier wall before hitting the semi, and a car driven by Elizabeth Ortiz of Appleton, Wisc., then hit Hartley’s car. Hartley was taken to Newman Regional Health for treatment.
*Just before 7 am, a car and SUV collided on US 400 about two miles west of Fall River. The Highway Patrol says an eastbound car driven by 54-year-old Michael Allen of Wichita hit a westbound SUV driven by 47-year-old Robert Graham of Fall River. Allen was taken to Fredonia Medical Center, while Graham was hospitalized although the crash log does not say where. Both suffered suspected serious injuries.
Stay with KVOE and KVOE.com for weather and travel updates. If you have schedule adjustments to report, whether they are closings, cancellations, postponements or delays, call KVOE at 620-342-1400 or email kvoe@kvoe.com.
