Road conditions are passable within portions of the KVOE listening area, however, if you do not need to travel Friday it’s advised you don’t.
Lyon County and Emporia road crews spent the better half of Thursday morning treating city and county roads in the midst of snowfall and freezing drizzle. According to Assistant Lyon County Engineer Jim Brull, the Arctic cold effecting the area is rendering treatment materials relatively ineffective.
County roads are mostly snow packed and slick with minor drifting occuring, however, Brull says they are passable for the most part. In Emporia, Public Works Director Dean Grant says road conditions have not improved drastically since snowfall began early Thursday, however, they have not worsened either.
Major arterials are passable but slick while side streets and residential collector streets remain partially to completely covered. Both Brull and Grant say conditions likely won’t see any major improvement until Friday afternoon at the earliest.
For major highways:
Interstate 35 from Emporia to Lebo, is partially snow covered as is the Kansas Turnpike from Emporia to Wichita and Emporia to Topeka. US Highway 56 from Allen to Council Grove is experiencing seasonal driving conditions as are West US Highway 50 and US Highway 77.
Numerous slide offs have been reported throughout the KVOE listening area, however, only a handful have led to injuries. Full details can be found below.
Stay with KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media for more updates as they become available.
4 pm Thursday:WEATHER: Travel conditions still poor, but winter weather advisory replaces winter storm warning
The winter storm affecting the KVOE listening area has essentially been as advertised.
Light snow has combined with air temperatures below zero and wind gusts at or above 40 mph to make for a miserable Thursday. The misery actually started around sunset Wednesday when freezing drizzle overspread the area and led to numerous crashes, including one in Chase County that led to two Neosho Rapids residents coming to Newman Regional Health for treatment. A separate wreck in Chase County near Elmdale before sunrise Thursday sent six people to Newman Regional Health with non-life-threatening injuries.
Travel conditions were subpar all morning. Because of near-zero visibility, the National Weather Service Wichita office included Chase and Greenwood counties in snow squall warnings. Meteorologist Chance Hayes tells KVOE News it’s a rarely-used tool that fit the situation.
The winter storm warning for Lyon and surrounding counties was replaced by a winter weather advisory now in effect until 12 am Friday. Chase and Greenwood counties remain in an advisory until 6 pm Thursday.
Emporia Public Works Director Dean Grant says local travel conditions weren’t ideal because the high winds blew traction materials out of place.
Lyon County driving has been hampered because the wind is causing some drifting. Here’s County Engineer Chip Woods:
Power issues were scattered Thursday morning. Power has been restored to Evergy customers in the Reading area after an outage that developed before 3:30 am. Power was offline for several hours before it was restored. Also, a dozen Emporia businesses were without power after a failure in the Candlewood Drive area of town. Power was fully restored around 9 am. Roughly 60 customers lost power just east of Osage City. And better than 70 Evergy customers were offline after a pair of outages west of Reece in western Greenwood County.
Evergy District Service Center Manager Rolland Trahoon II says high winds were the likely cause for most outages along with galloping lines. He says additional small-scale outages lingered into the afternoon hours, however, the majority have been restored and crews will continue to work as needed throughout the extreme cold.
Separately but related to the weather situation, the Salvation Army of Emporia has given details about its status as a local warming center. Capt. Mylie Hadden says the Salvation Army will be open during its normal 9 am to 4 pm business hours Thursday and Friday. Other warming centers:
*Emporia Police Department lobby
*Lyon County Law Enforcement Center lobby
*First Congregational Church
*First United Methodist Church
*Twelfth Avenue Baptist Church
The snow is likely over, but the cold and wind will remain through most of Friday. Lyon County Emergency Management Director Jarrod Fell wants people to keep i mind their furry companions as well.
9:30 am Thursday: National Weather Service uses snow squall warning; travel conditions remain poor areawide
National Weather Service officials took a unique step with their winter alerts Thursday morning.
The Wichita office issued two snow squall warnings — one involving Chase and Greenwood counties that has expired, the other involving Greenwood untl 10 am — because of a combination of light snow and wind gusts above 40 mph leading to “life-threatening” travel conditions, including visibility occasionally down to zero.
Snow squall warnings are relatively commonplace near the Great Lakes.
Unfortunately, visibility has been somewhat reduced areawide because of the combination of snow and wind. Snow totals as of 8 am, courtesy of the National Weather Service:
*3 miles northwest of Emporia: 2 inches
*Latimer: 1.5 inches
*Cottonwood Falls: 2 inches
If you have snow totals, call KVOE at 620-342-1400 or message the Bluestem Farm and Ranch text line at 620-342-5863.
In Emporia, Public Works Director Dean Grant says street crews were out from midnight to 5 am spreading treatment materials. However, Grant says the high winds have apparently blown those materials off a lot of local streets. Meanwhile, the melting material haydite is effective in temperatures at or above 15 degrees.
Meanwhile, power has been restored to Evergy customers in the Reading area after an outage that developed before 3:30 am. Power was offline for several hours before it was restored. A cause has not been determined. Also, a dozen Emporia businesses remain without power after a failure in the Candlewood Drive area of town. And better than 70 Evergy customers are offline after a pair of outages west of Reece in western Greenwood County.
Separately but related to the weather situation, the Salvation Army of Emporia has given details about its status as a LOCAL warming center. Capt. Mylie Hadden says the Salvation Army will be open during its normal 9 am to 4 pm business hours Thursday and Friday. Other warming centers:
*Emporia Police Department lobby
*Lyon County Law Enforcement Center lobby
*First Congregational Church
*First United Methodist Church
*Twelfth Avenue Baptist Church
7:20 am Thursday: Snow squall warning for Chase, Greenwood counties until 8 am
Ever heard of a snow squall warning?
The alert signifies snowfall combined with wind gusts at or approaching 50 mph, and a snow squall warning affects Chase and Greenwood counties until 8 am. The National Weather Service says this is leading to life-threatening travel conditions with visibility from a quarter-mile down to zero.
Residents are told to reduce their speeds and turn on their headlights.
5:25-7 am Thursday: Six people to Newman Regional Health after Chase County wreck, Reading area remains without power
Already poor travel conditions will continue and could get worse Thursday morning.
Freezing drizzle caused widespread havoc on area roads starting before sunset Wednesday, although most area counties did not report any injury crashes. Chase County was an exception with a one-vehicle wreck on US Highway 50 near Elmdale and a two-vehicle wreck on the Kansas Turnpike near the Flint Hills cattle pens exit around 5:45 pm:
*Details are pending for the crash near Elmdale, but Chase County Sheriff Jacob Welsh says six people were transported to Newman Regional Health with apparently non-life-threatening injuries after a single-vehicle rollover incident.
*For the Turnpike incident, early indications are one vehicle hit an icy patch and slid, causing a second vehicle to lose control and hit the center median.Two people in the second car, 65-year-old Margaret Hughes and 62-year-old Wilma Landis, both of Neosho Rapids, were taken to Newman Regional Health with suspected possible injuries.
Welsh tells KVOE News the combination of icy roads, strong winds and blowing snow is making visibility difficult.
Overnight conditions haven’t been great, despite the work of highway crews, and TV-13 meteorologist Doug Meyers expects the peak snowfall will be from 6-9 am.
Hourly wind chills went below -10 at the Emporia Municipal Airport shortly before 4 am and could be as low as -30 later in the day.
Kandrive.org indicates highway conditions range from seasonal along the Kansas Turnpike to completely ice-covered for highways like Interstate 35 east of Neosho Rapids, Kansas Highway 177 from Cottonwood Falls to the north, US Highway 56 west of Miller, Kansas Highway 58 east of Madison and US Highway 75 south of the I-35 BETO Jonction intersection.
Both Emporia Public Works and the Lyon County Highway Department are stocked with treatment and clearing materials, but they have concerns about at least the potential for repeated snow clearing efforts. If there is any good news, it’s the snow forecast is lower than it was — but Assistant County Engineer Jim Brull says the drifting will be an ongoing concern.
Unfortunately, power is an issue for some residents in northeast Lyon County. Power in the Reading area went offline shortly beofre 3:30 am Thurdsay. Over 170 Evergy customers are offline. The cause is unclear. This follows an outage that wiped out power to Melvern and surrounding counties Wednesday.
Livestock care is a concern, given the combination of conditions. Lyon County Extension ag agent Brian Rees says preparations typically involve feed, water and shelter for the animals.
In town, warming stations go into effect Thursday. Emporia and Lyon County announced toe warming stations — the Emporia Police Department and Lyon County Sheriff’s Office lobbies, First Congregational Church, First United Methodist Church and Twelfth Avenue Baptist Church. Lyon County Emergency Management Director Jarrod Fell says the decision to open up warming stations followed conversations at the state level, and local officials are poised to add more warming stations if needed.
