Snow causes lots of wrecks, but it may be tailing off

Police and emergency crews were bustling across the metro area Saturday, responding to dozens of accidents caused by the snow that began falling at midmorning and continued through the afternoon.

Most of the accidents were slide-offs and fender-benders, authorities said, with minor injuries reported in just a few of the cases.

National Weather Service meteorologist Dan Hawblitzel said accumulations ranged from 1 to 2 inches in the immediate Kansas City area to slightly more than 2 inches to the south.

A second round may develop after midnight Saturday into early Sunday, he said, producing another 1 to 2 inches of snow in a few areas.

“This will be a narrow band,” he said, “so it’s a real possibility that many areas could miss out on any additional snow tonight and tomorrow.”

The good news, he said, is that there’s a warmup on the way. Sunday’s high is expected to be 32, with highs of 38 on Monday and near 50 on Tuesday.

But the warmup is going to be accompanied by rain, Hawblitzel said, possibly a quarter of an inch. And if the rain arrives Tuesday before the temperatures get above freezing, he said, there could be some light icing in the area.

The average temperature for this time of year is 49 degrees, he said, “so that warmup is actually just getting to normal.”

The majority of accidents around the metro area Saturday were on the interstates and in Johnson County.

A Kansas Highway Patrol dispatcher said troopers had been busy working lots of minor accidents, mostly caused by slideoffs, and Blue Springs police reported “a ton of accidents on I-70” earlier in the day but said none were serious.

The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office reported “a whole slew of accidents,” but mostly slideoffs and nothing serious. Overland Park police reported numerous accidents — most of them rear-enders. Olathe police said they’d had a few accidents, with only a handful involving minor injuries.

Northbound U.S. 71 had several minor accidents by mid-afternoon Saturday, most caused by spin-outs. .

But in Miami County, sheriff’s dispatcher Carmen Anthony was taking it all in.

“I’m loving this,” said Anthony, who in the mid-afternoon reported a few minor slide-off accidents. “We’re just getting a nice, peaceful snow. We need it. I’m happy.”

This story was originally published February 28, 2015 at 5:02 PM with the headline "Snow causes lots of wrecks, but it may be tailing off."