Sunday’s blizzard that hammered the Flint Hills with winds as high as some severe thunderstorms and light to moderate snowfall has long since cleared the area, but it has taken some time to get traffic back to normal.
The snowfall spread was wide Sunday. The southern tier of the KVOE listening area, namely Greenwood County, got anywhere from a trace to 2 inches of snow. Lyon County’s range was 2-6 inches, according to the National Weather Service, with around 3-4 inches commonplace in Emporia. Portions of Morris, Osage and Wabaunsee counties were in the 6-9 inch range.
Peak wind gusts, meanwhile, were at or above 50 mph for most of the area, with Strong City having the highest gust at 58 mph — the baseline mark for severe thunderstorm activity had that been in effect. Emporia and Eureka both had 51 mph gusts.
After a long day of plowing and treating for city, county and KDOT crews Sunday, city crews began treating major arterials and so-called collector streets, or heavily-used residential streets, around 3 am. However, it took until the sun came out around 8:30 am for traffic conditions to improve in town.
County crews, meanwhile, had to plow a lot of roads several different times as light to moderate snow combined with winds over 50 mph to drift those roads shut. Assistant County Engineer Jim Brull:
Drifts got as high as 4 to 5 feet overnight, and east-west roads had a lot of drifting issues while north-south roads mainly stayed clear.
Part of the blizzard’s impact was on travel. Part was also on power, and over 500 Westar Energy customers in east Emporia had to deal with an outage when a pole failed in the 900 block of East 12th at the start of the blizzard. Westar is replacing that pole Monday, but 12th is blocked from Peyton to Whittier while those repairs continue.
Conditions were not fit for man or beast, and the David Traylor Zoo began taking steps a week ago so animals would be as comfortable as possible. Zoo Director Lisa Keith credited her staff for what they did to keep animals safe.
Even with the blizzard long gone, there are quite a few schedule adjustments in place Monday. Click here for the full list of schedule adjustments.
Conditions will moderate this week, especially by Wednesday as high temperatures climb to the mid-40s. We could see some freezing fog overnight Monday night into Tuesday, so slick travel is possible.
Stay with KVOE and KVOE.com for weather, travel and schedule adjustment information. If you have schedule adjustments, call KVOE at 342-1400 or email kvoe@kvoe.com.
Snow totals varied widely Sunday across the Flint Hills and, for that matter, much of Kansas. National Weather Service graphic.
6 am Monday: Slick roads to greet Monday travelers after Sunday’s blizzard
Travel was slow going due to a blizzard that smacked the area Sunday, and travel will stay at low speeds through at least the morning hours — also as a result of yesterday’s powerful winter storm.
Snowfall totals for the area were as follows:
*Emporia Municipal Airport: 2.5 inches
*Ninth and Lawrence: 3.5 inches
*Auburn: 3 inches
Peak wind gusts:
*Emporia: 51 mph
*Eureka: 51 mph
*Matfield Green: 50 mph
*Strong City: 58 mph
That has led to drifts as high as 5 feet deep in northern Lyon County, including drifts over a lot of east-west roads in Lyon and surrounding counties.
Emporia street crews have started a second round of street treatments and clearing, mainly on arterials, so-called collector streets or heavily-used residential streets and school routes, but Street Supervisor Mike Dvorak says they have been battling a stubborn snowpack across town. Residential streets are icy as well. Lyon County Deputy Doug Stump says it is still slick areawide.
Several local schools have announced they will be closed Monday, after a blizzard which blew through the KVOE listening area left a heavy impact on area roads and highways. Click here for the full list of areawide schedule adjustments.
City, county and KDOT crews had quite the day as traffic was closed for most of the day on Interstate 35 between Emporia and Beto Junction, US Highway 50 and the Kansas Turnpike. A number of injury accidents also occurred, which contributed to the closure of traffic on the highways.
Lyon County Sheriff Jeff Cope says, despite multiple advisories through the week, there was still a steady stream of traffic on the roadways. He says coupled with the limited visibility, this created major concerns of safety for both travelers and first responders.
Lyon County Engineer Chip Woods says the high winds and snow coupled with temperatures in the low to mid-30s made keeping up with road treatments difficult for county crews.
Roads and bridges were not the only areas affected, as several power outages were reported throughout the area including one outage in Emporia which affected over 500 Westar customers around 10 am Sunday morning. Power was fully restored just before noon. Separately, a second mass power outage developed in the early afternoon which affected over 1,000 Westar customers in Greenwood, Woodson and Wilson counties. Westar crews had power fully restored just before 5 p.m.
During the blizzard, Gov. Jeff Colyer issued a state of disaster emergency declaration statewide. The declaration authorized the use of state resources and personnel to assist with response and recovery in affected counties during the blizzard. The Kansas Division of Emergency Management also activated the State Emergency Operations Center in Topeka to a partial level to monitor the weather and coordinate any state emergency response operations that may have been requested.
Photos and video are available with this story at KVOE.com. If you have photos or videos to submit, post to KVOE’s Twitter or Facebook pages. If you have schedule adjustments of any sort, call KVOE at 342-1400 or email kvoe@kvoe.com.
Click here for schedule adjustments.
Click here for Sunday’s blizzard coverage.
Click here for Saturday’s winter storm coverage.
Photos by Chuck Samples and Ron Thomas/KVOE News
{gallery}Blizzard Day After Nov 26 2018{/gallery}
