Winter storm brings snow to Kansas, with highway crashes and Kellogg closures in Wichita
Parts of the Kellogg freeway in Wichita is closed as emergency crews respond to multiple wrecks during a winter storm that has dropped snow across Kansas.
The Wichita Police Department said in a series of tweets Sunday morning that portions of Kellogg are closed due to crashes. The Emergency Accident Reporting Plan is in effect for the city, which is where drivers involved in non-injury accidents where no impairment is suspected can drive to a QuikTrip or a police station to fill out a report.
The Reno County Sheriff’s Office in a Facebook post advised drivers to stay home as roadways are glazed over. Deputies were working multiple slide-offs and injury and non-injury accidents, leading to additional employees being called in to help.
In Riley County, a five-vehicle pileup that included three semis blocked the westbound lanes of a snow-covered I-70, state troopers with the Kansas Highway Patrol said in a Sunday morning Facebook post.
As of 9 a.m., snowfall measurements included 4 inches in Lindsborg, 3 inches in Salina, 2 inches in Ellsworth and 1 inch in Hillsboro, the National Weather Service office in Wichita said in a tweet. By noon, NWS storm reports show, snowfall had reached 5 inches in Council Grove, 4 inches in Manhattan, 3 inches in Topeka, 2 inches in Lawrence and 1 inch in Newton.
An online map from the Kansas Department of Transporation showed many highways in central and northeast Kansas, including interstates 70 and 135, are “completely covered” with snow or ice as of late Sunday morning. The map showed I-35 was experiencing “seasonal” road conditions between the Oklahoma border and Emporia, where it then becomes “completely covered” between Emporia and Kansas City.
The hazardous road conditions are expected to impact the Monday morning rush hour, the National Weather Service said.
Wichita’s NWS weather forecast
Meteorologists with the NWS Wichita office predict a 70% chance of precipitation in the city throughout Sunday. It will be primarily snow and freezing rain before 5 p.m., when it changes to freezing rain. During the night, there is a 60% chance for precipitation, which will be snow possibly mixed with freezing rain that becomes all snow after 5 a.m. Monday. Daytime Monday has a 60% chance for precipitation, which is expected to be all snow.
The high temperature on Sunday will be around 32 degrees dropping to an overnight low of around 23 degrees. The Monday high will be around 32 degrees.
Less than a tenth of an inch of ice accumulation is expected on Sunday, with less than half an inch of snow. Overnight winter weather could add up to a tenth of an inch of new ice accumulation and up to 1 inch of new snow accumulation. Daytime Monday storms could add between 1 and 3 inches of new snow accumulation.
Additional forecasts are available from National Weather Service offices in Topeka, Goodland and Dodge City.
Road Conditions, snowplows and closings
The Kansas Division of Emergency Management encourages travelers to prepare a home emergency kit that includes food, water, medications, extra clothing, flashlights and batteries, battery-operated NOAA weather radio and other necessities. When traveling during winter storms, fill the fuel tank, charge your cellphone and bring an emergency kit, the state agency advises.
Internet users can follow the paths of Wichita snowplows at www.wichita.gov/PWU/Pages/SnowRemoval.aspx.
Drivers can check Kansas highway road conditions at www.kandrive.org/kandrive. Kansas Department of Transportation statewide highway traffic cameras and Wichita cameras are also available online.
If you know of a closing, cancellation or postponement because of the snowstorm, please email details to The Wichita Eagle at online@wichitaeagle.com.
This story was originally published December 15, 2019 at 11:35 AM.