A late-winter blizzard forced Interstate 70 to close early Wednesday in western Kansas while forecasters warned that high winds would bring power outages later in the day to the Topeka area. Blizzard conditions caused low visibility, which prompted authorities to shut down I-70 from Hays west to the Colorado state line. The snow and high winds involved were moving westward, with the National Weather Service having issued a blizzard warning for parts of north-central Kansas. Northeast Kansas was anticipated Wednesday to see high winds and rain, which was expected later in the day to turn to light snow.
How will northeast Kansas be affected?
The weather service issued a high wind warning lasting until 7 p.m. Wednesday for northeast, north-central and east-central Kansas, which it said would see winds coming from the northwest at 35 to 45 mph and gusting at up to 60 mph. "Widespread power outages are expected," the weather service's Topeka office said on its website. "Travel will be difficult, especially for high profile vehicles." Topeka temperatures dropped from 69 degrees at 5 a.m. to 48 at 9 a.m., with the weather service predicting mercury readings would fall to 38 degrees by 4 p.m. Rain was expected to fall between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Wednesday in Topeka, followed by rain and snow. Little or no snow accumulation was expected in Topeka, the weather service said.
Various western Kansas roads closed
Various roads and highways in addition to I-70 had been shut down Wednesday morning in the western part of the state. “Please stay home!” Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper Tod Hileman
said on his Facebook page . Updated information about Kansas road conditions can be found at
kandrive.gov , Hileman said.
Winds and snow reduced visibility to one-quarter mile or less
High winds and snow reduced visibility Wednesday morning to one-quarter mile or less in the areas of Dodge City, Garden City and Oakley, the weather service said. Reports of wind speeds of more than 60 mph in western Kansas were common, with a 71-mph gust reported at 4:17 a.m. near Quinter in the northwest part of the state. The weather service reported 10 inches of snow had fallen as of 8:06 a.m. at Gove and 8 inches of drifted snow could be seen at 5 a.m. on the calm side of a windbreak near the unincorporated community of Angelus, both in northwest Kansas. Snowfall totals elsewhere tended to be 2.5 inches or less.
How will north-central Kansas be affected?
Conditions were expected to deteriorate very quickly Wednesday morning across north-central Kansas as the band of snow moved east, the
weather service's Topeka office said on its website. "Winds are already gusting to 50 mph and will only get stronger as the snow moves in," it said. "Expect visibility down to a half mile or less and roads quickly becoming snow covered." The weather service issued blizzard warnings that would remain in effect until 4 p.m. Wednesday for areas that included Republic, Ottawa, Cloud and Washington counties in north-central Kansas. Forecasters predicted that area would see 65-mph wind gusts accompanied by 2 to 4 inches of snow, with more than 5 inches falling in some areas.
Contact Tim Hrenchir at [email protected] or 785-213-5934.
