After isolated to scattered slick spots hampered travel across the KVOE listening area Thursday morning, there are no such problems Friday morning.
Streets are largely clear in Emporia and highways are largely clear outside of town. Kandrive.org indicates seasonal driving, meaning isolated icy patches, on US Highway 50 from Emporia west to the Lyon-Chase county line and on Kansas Highway 99 from Emporia south the Lyon-Greenwood county line.
Thursday’s travel conditions started having issues after light rain changed to light snowfall around 3 am, with many area highways briefly listed as completely snow-covered. Travel conditions improved noticeably through the day as temperatures climbed to the mid-30s, sunshine appeared at times and traction materials both cleared any ice and dried the streets — which was important because that eliminated most chances for refreezing.
There were a few crashes that developed, but only one was reported that led to ambulance trips. 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.
Two other wrecks were reported Thursday evening, one at Kansas Turnpike mile marker 100 near the Matfield Green service exit and another in the 500 block of US Highway 50 two miles west of Emporia, but there were no ambulance trips with either incident.
High temperatures will be in the upper 30s Friday, with highs climbing to near 60 degrees by Sunday. The next chance of rainfall is a slight chance Tuesday night and a better chance Wednesday.
