Emporia Public Works crews have been in the process of clearing residential streets the past week but the process has been slow going according to Emporia City Manager Trey Cocking.
Given the stubbornness of the ice, Cocking says crews have been using additional melting materials to try and speed up the process.
Given the current progress, Cocking anticipates there could still be a sizeable amount of ice on some roads by the time cooler temperatures arrive this weekend. Current forecasts are calling for highs in the high teens to mid-20s between Saturday and Sunday and overnight lows between 0 and 10.
Those temperatures will carry over into midweek when we will start to see a warmup with forecasted temperatures in the mid-30s by Wednesday.
On the plus side, major arterial roads are almost completely clear aside from the occasional strip of ice in turn lanes and medians. Additionally, Cocking says parks and golf employees have been lending assistance in clearing “snow mountains” from sidewalks and entrances over the past week.
The work follows 5-plus inches of snow, a half inch of ice and air temperatures near zero Jan. 4-5 which was followed by another 2-3 inches of snowfall Jan. 9-10.
