Travel conditions have steadily improved areawide after a quick changeover from light rain to light snow early Thursday.
Highway conditions went from completely covered for most area highways around 5 am to mainly seasonal conditions, meaning wet with isolated icing, by 10 am. Seth Snyder of the Lyon County Highway Department says conditions varied a lot, depending on which part of the county you talk about.
In Emporia, street conditions were either wet or icy, but major streets had improved relatively quickly after sunrise. Residential streets are slick.
Locally, there were several calls to 911 for falls and resulting ambulance trips to Newman Regional Health between 3-8 am. That situation also improved over time.
Areawide, there was at least one injury crash, and it led to potentially serious injuries for one of the two drivers involved. The Kansas Highway Patrol says the wreck happened on US Highway 75 in New Strawn just after 8 am as a pickup driven by 17-year-old Baylor Ernst of Burlington went left of center and hit a second pickup driven by 37-year-old Danny Elmore, also of Burlington. Elmore was taken to Stormont-Vail Hospital in Topeka with suspected serious injuries. Ernst went by private vehicle to Coffey County Hospital in Burlington with suspected minor injuries. Both were wearing seatbelts at the time of the crash.
The travel issues caused three area school districts — USD 251 North Lyon County, USD 252 Southern Lyon County and USD 386 Madison-Virgil — to delay school activities by two hours. Travel also caused Sunshine Sisters to cancel its line dance activities set for Twelfth Avenue Baptist Church.
Temperatures are set to climb to the mid-30s by mid-afternoon but will dip to around 20 degrees overnight, so there is a concern of refreezing and another round of slick travels early Friday. Snyder says the Highway Department is prepared to treat elevated surfaces, intersections and highway curves as needed.
8:15 am Thursday: Scattered slick spots remain areawide for drivers and pedestrians alike
Isolated to scattered slick spots remain across the KVOE listening area after a band of light snowfall early Thursday morning.
Road crews began going out around 3 am as light rain changed to freezing rain and then to snow. Slippery roads aren’t widespread, but Lyon County Deputy Doug Stump urges caution for a bit yet Thursday morning.
Emporia Public Works Director Dean Grant says there are certain areas of town that are more slick than others — highlighting East Sixth Avenue and the intersection of Logan and Weaver — so crews are out finding those trouble spots and treating them.
Areawide, Kandrive.org indicates improving highway conditions, but most area highways are either seasonal or partly covered. As of 8 am, the only area highways listed as completely covered were US Highway 56 from Admire to about five miles east of Miller, Kansas Highway 99 north of Admire and Kansas Highway 31 from the K-99 junction through Harveyville to Burlingame.
5:15 am Thursday: Travel issues isolated areawide despite some highways remaining completely covered
Road crews remain out as a quick-hitting winter storm caused occasional slick travels for the KVOE listening area Thursday morning.
A wintry mix of precipitation caused some travel issues starting around 3 am, according to Lyon County Deputy Doug Stump.
As of 5 am, Kandrive.org had several highways as completely covered, including:
*Interstate 35 east of Kansas Highway 130
*US Highway 50 west of Plymouth
*US Highway 56 from east of Miller to Admire
*Kansas Highway 99 north of Admire and south of Madison
*Kansas Highawy 58 east of Madison
*Kansas Highway 177 south of Strong City
Most other highways are listed as seasonal, meaning isolated slick spots, but US-56 from near Miller to just north of Osage City and also west of Admire are partially covered. So is K-177 north of Strong City.
Stay with KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media for updates.
3:15 am Thursday: Winter weather advisory areawide until 6 am; Lyon County road crews called out as travel gets slick
Road crews are out as a quick-hitting winter storm causes slick travels for the KVOE listening area Thursday morning.
Lyon County crews were called out to start treating paved roads around 3 am as light rain changed over to light, wind-blown snow. Kandrive.org currently lists most area highways as seasonal for driving conditions, meaning generally wet conditions with isolated slick spots.
Winter weather advisories are up areawide until 6 am for the prospect of up to an inch of snow and related travel issues, including visibility — which has been as low as 50 feet in Marion County earlier Thursday morning. Speaking of the wind, Chase and Greenwood counties are in wind advisories until 7 am with northerly gusts expected as high as 45 mph.
Stay with KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media for updates.
