Blustery conditions persist across the KVOE listening area, but calmer conditions are coming soon.
The National Weather Service has ended high wind warnings for area counties, replacing them with wind advisories:
*Lyon, Coffey, Osage and Wabaunsee counties: Wind advisory until 2 pm
*Chase and Greenwood counties: Wind advisory until 4 pm
Morris County is not included in any wind alert.
Power outage numbers have varied considerably as Wednesday has progressed, but they have generally trended lower. After over 2,000 Evergy customers in and immediately around Emporia were offline around 2 am, just over 200 customers areawide were without power as of 11 am.
Occasionally breezy conditions — peak gusts around 20-25 mph — are expected by early Wednesday evening.
KVOE and KVOE.com will have updates.
7:30 am Wednesday: Power outage numbers fluctuate as high winds continue
Winds were high and snow totals were low across the KVOE listening area Tuesday night into Wednesday.
Wind gusts reached 55 mph at the Emporia Municipal Airport for much of the overnight period, just short of the baseline criteria of 58 mph for severe thunderstorm activity. That led to a host of power outages across the area. At one point before 2 am, over 2,000 Evergy customers were offline in the immediate Emporia area. Less than 200 were offline as of 4 am, but that number climbed up to near 450 shortly before 6 am. 4 Rivers had less than 60 outages reported during the overnight period. Those have tentatively been resolved.
Outages were scattered through Tuesday as well, with over 2,300 Evergy customers offline at one point before sunrise. Several Emporia stoplights also went offline after an early-evening outage, with stoplights also briefly offline just south of Emporia State University early Wednesday morning.
TV-13 meteorologist Doug Meyers says winds will die back — slowly — through the daylight hours. Are more outages possible Wednesday?
A high wind warning continues until noon for Lyon and most surrounding counties until noon. Chase and Greenwood counties are in a warning until 9 am. The National Weather Service has said the warnings will likely be replaced by wind advisories.
Emporia had a dusting of snowfall overnight after 0.75 inches of rain through Tuesday. Totals from elsewhere across the KVOE listening area:
*1100 block Constitution: 0.80 inches rain
*Deerbrook Addition: 0.50 inches rain
*Between Hartford and Olpe: 1.30 inches rain
Travel issues appear to be isolated. No issues have been reported for Emporia or Lyon County roads, and Kandrive.org has seasonal — isolated icing — to partly covered highways areawide.
Stay with KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media for updates. If you have rain or snow amounts to pass along, call KVOE at 620-342-1400, message the Bluestem Farm and Ranch text line at 620-342-5863 or email kvoe@kvoe.com.
