Light snowfall and occasional freezing drizzle will continue to cause travel issues into Monday evening.
The National Weather Service has extended a winter weather advisory for Lyon, Coffey, Osage and Wabaunsee counties until 9 pm this evening. A separate advisory for Greenwood County also continues until 9 pm. Alerted areas could see up to half an inch of snow and a thin glaze of ice by mid-evening.
This is the third consecutive day of light snowfall and the first time this weather event has added freezing drizzle. Not surprisingly, travel — which was already below normal speeds — was even slower, both in Emporia and areawide. In town, major arterials are seasonal but residential collectors and side streets are mostly to completely snowcovered. Across the area, highways and county roads are partly to completely snowcovered.
Numerous slideoff crashes were reported in Lyon County, with a handful in Coffey County. The only injury crash was in Chase County, where 32-year-old Rajinder Kumar lost control of his semi on the Kansas Turnpike about six miles north of the Matfield Green service exit. The semi went off the highway, hit a delineator post and overturned. Kumar was taken to Newman Regional Health with suspected minor injuries.
Numerous school districts decided to either close school outright or to delay operations two hours. Other schedule adjustments are also posted on KVOE.com’s Closings and Cancellations page.
City, county and KDOT crews spent much of Monday treating roads. The forecast, though, is not conducive to any melting any time soon, and Emporia is not planning to add any salt to streets until perhaps Tuesday or Wednesday. The Lyon County Highway Department hasn’t mentioned its road treatment plans. Materials used by the city of Emporia and Lyon County need temperatures in the low 20s, lots of traffic and at least partly sunny conditions to be effective. High temperatures now look to be under 20 degrees through the upcoming weekend and cloudy conditions may rule until perhaps Sunday.
We’ll keep you updated on KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media. If you have schedule adjustments this week, call KVOE at 342-1400 or email kvoe@kvoe.com.
