Thankfully, we are exiting the deep freeze ushered in by a massive winter storm. And that means we should see improving travel conditions over the next few days.
Emporia City Manager Trey Cocking, a guest on KVOE’s Morning show on Monday, says temperatures in the 20s and abundant sunshine will help the main streets get clear Monday. Temperatures in the 30s and sunshine will cause more improvements Tuesday and Wednesday.
Cocking also says the snowfall type and rate helped the initial clearing efforts Saturday into Sunday.
Cocking says the city took a few steps to make sure there wasn’t a repeat of the January 2025 snow and ice event that had local travel moving slowly for much of the month.
Windrows in downtown Emporia will be cleared and taken to Santa Fe Park this week.
Given the conditions, Lyon County Engineer Wayne Scritchfield says the snow removal effort went about as well as could be expected.
Scritchfield says crews will inspect road conditions and go from there.
Residents got up to 6 inches of snowfall in town over the weekend. Wind chills were near -20 at times during the weekend and near -25 early Monday. KVOE and KVOE.com will have travel updates as warranted this week.
6:20 am Monday: Temperatures to recover after brutally cold start Monday
The winter storm that covered the area in up to 7 inches of snowfall this past weekend isn’t quite done with us.
A cold weather advisory continues until noon areawide. Overnight lows below zero and wind chills in the -15 to -25 range are with us again as they were from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning and again since around 10 pm Sunday. The wind chills and occasionally slick driving conditions have caused Emporia State, Flint Hills Technical College, daycare facilities and almost every school district and parochial school to cancel classes for Monday. The school exception is USD 284 Chase County, which is on a 2-hour delay. Conditions have prompted the Lyon County League Basketball Tournament to move Monday’s schedule to Tuesday and the Tuesday original schedule to Wednesday.
The cold conditions also may have led to a water main break on East Ninth between Lakeview and Peyton around 7 pm Sunday. An update is pending.
Both Emporia Public Works Supervisor Jeff Meek and Assistant Lyon County Engineer Jim Brull say the conditions Saturday helped snow removal efforts, first with breezy conditions blowing snow off many areas and then with calm conditions limiting a lot of potential drifting. Travel conditions have improved since the main snow event Saturday but are still wintry, and there were concerns about a widespread refreeze. Emporia Police Sgt. Dominick Vortherms says there was isolated to scattered refreezing overnight.
Highway conditions currently have icy patches or are partly covered across the KVOE listening area.
High temperatures will be in the low 20s Monday, near the mid-20s where Emporia’s treatment materials become effective.
Occasionally breezy conditions will keep wind chills in the teens Monday. Highs will be in the 20s and 30s all week with lows in the single digits and teens. No precipitation is expected all week.
Snow totals from the weekend:
*900 block Grand: 5-6 inches
*Ninth and Lawrence: 6 inches
*Ninth and Whildin: 6 inches
*10th and Weaver: 6 inches
*18th and Meadowlark: 5 inches
*2 miles west of Alma: 5 inches
*Burlington: 4.5 inches
*1 mile east-northeast of Emporia: 6.6 inches
*5 miles east-southeast of Emporia: 5.6 inches
*3 miles northwest of Emporia: 6.6 inches
*6 miles north of Emporia: 4.5 inches
*Climax: 4 inches
*Council Grove: 5.6 inches
*Eureka: 5.5 inches
*Fall River: 6 inches
*Gridley: 5.2 inches
*3 miles northwest of Madison: 4.8 inches
*1 mile east of Osage City: 5 inches
*1 mile north of Plymouth: 4.5 inches
*7 miles southwest of Toronto: 7 inches
If you have snow totals or photos, message the KVOE Bluestem Farm and Ranch Supply text line at 620-342-5863.
