Storm brings cold, ice
Friday, January 12, 2007
Mother Nature cut a whimsical path of freezing rain and sleet this morning at the onset of a predicted weekend run of wintry precipitation.
Some areas reported freezing rain, some had spotty freezing mist, some were seeing fine, blowing snow and others had received almost no precipitation by 9:30 a.m. today.
Hartford had a sampling of precipitation. City Clerk Carmen Burris said initially it froze on windshields.
“We had a sleet and we had a snow-like thing,” Burris said. “I don’t think we have anything now.”
Burris’ son, who works in Burlington, told her that roads in that area were considerably worse than in Lyon County.
At Neosho Rapids, Postmaster Betty Rhoads reported that roads were a little slick.
“We haven’t really got much yet,” she said.
State and county highway crews were working throughout the area.
“We have all our crews out treating the highways,” said Terry Thompson, equipment operator specialist for the Kansas Department of Transportation office here. Thompson said KDOT employees began yesterday to prepare for today’s ice and snow.
“We had put salt brine on yesterday, pre-treatment, and now we’re following up with just regular salt-sand mix on it. ... We spray it on the day before a storm. It worked this time. We weren’t even called out until 6:20 or 6:15.”
By 9 a.m. today, crews had treated all of the state and interstate highways in the county. Kansas Highway 130, which had not had full pre-treatment on Thursday, was one of the first routes treated this morning. Work will continue as needed.
“The wind will refreeze it if we don’t stay on top of things,” Thompson said.
Greenwood County was getting an assortment of precipitation.
“It’s misting and it’s freezing,” said Marilyn Ballard, clerk at the Madison post office. Ballard paused a moment to look outside, before adding, “Looking out my front windows, you can see white stuff blowing.”
Ten miles north of Madison, conditions at Olpe were “just nasty,” said Judy Downs, relief postmaster, describing the mixture of freezing rain and sleet that had just turned to snow.
Lebo Postmaster Roger Steinke reported that freezing rain there had changed to light snow around 9 a.m.
A light mixture of precipitation was falling at Cottonwood Falls.
“It’s just a real light, halfway between snow and sleet,” Postmaster Lori Kohlmeier said. “People are getting around OK.
Farther south in Chase County, precipitation was heavier.
“It was ice earlier and now we looked out the window and it’s starting to snow,” said Diana McElfresh from the McDonald’s restaurant at Matfield Green.
“The roads aren’t too bad at all. I’ve been asking the customers and they say it’s not bad. They’re a little slick, but if you use common sense it’s OK.”
In north Lyon County, little precipitation had fallen.
“It’s a very, very light snow, just a flurry here and there and a little bit of white on the ground, but not much,” said Mike Kuhn, officer in charge at the Admire post office.
Postmaster Renee Stinson described a similar situation at Allen.
“It’s off and on little snow flurries,” Stinson said. “This morning we had just a little bit of freezing mist, nothing too serious. I did see the county go by with a sand truck, so they are out working.
“I kind of have a feeling we might not get as much as they think, but you never know.”
Lyon County Engineer Chip Woods said road and bridge crews had been treating the county’s 125 miles of paved roads since about 6:30 a.m. with a mixture of one part salt and two parts sand.
“We can generally get the county done in about four hours,” Woods said.
The scope of further treatment will depend on how much mixture is blown away by traffic and wind, and whether the temperature drops too low and makes the mixture less effective.
“We’ve alerted our people so they can be available as we need them,” Woods said. “I’m glad to see it’s started snowing.”