Post-Thanksgiving snowstorm tests Kansas City’s snow removal operations. How did it do?
.jpg "Crews work to clear a Kansas City street after a post-Thanksgiving snowstorm dumped between 1 and nearly 5.5 inches of snow in the the metro area. Kansas City pre-treated its streets in advance of the storm.")
A fast-moving, post-Thanksgiving storm initially was expected to bring anywhere from a dusting to under in inch of snow to Kansas City.
As the storm got closer, forecasts were refined, with the National Weather Service saying on Friday night that 2 to 3 inches or more of snow was expected in the heaviest band and 1 to 2 inches or less was expected elsewhere. The heaviest snowfall was expected east of Kansas City area along Interstate 70.
But when the flakes began to fly Saturday morning, a band of heavy snow formed and cut through the metro. Snow fell at a heavier rate than expected and in a concentrated areas, testing snow removal operations as shoppers headed out for their holiday gift buying.
The snowfall slowed traffic to a crawl on area highways. In the Northland, average highway speeds dipped below 30 mph. Traffic was at a standstill on southbound Interstate 435 near Front Street on Kansas City’s east side as well as along U.S. 169 by the Wheeler Downtown Airport. At one point, northbound U.S. 71 was closed in south Kansas City.
The storm made the area highways and streets slick, leading to slide offs and crashes. In Kansas City, police officers responded to 119 crashes. That compares to 40 crashes the previous Saturday and 47 on Nov. 16, said Officer Alayna Gonzalez with the Kansas City Police Department.
By mid-morning Saturday, the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Troop A, which includes the Kansas City area, said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that troopers were working a “significant amount” of weather-related calls.
“If you must travel, remember to take it slow, give extra distance between vehicles and PLEASE buckle up,” the highway patrol said.
The storm highlights how different agencies can have different outcomes due to how they plan their responses to an impending storm, depending on their varying interpretations of the forecast and their differing approaches to storm preparation.
Kansas City dramatically changed the way it approaches snow and ice storms four years ago, said Brian Platt, Kansas City’s city manager. Part of that change is aggressively pre-treating roads by adding a layer of salt or chemicals on its streets.
“If not for the pre-treating, we would have been in a much worse situation,” Platt said of Saturday’s storm.
The Missouri Department of Transportation had a different approach.
“Based on the latest forecast we had for this storm, we were expecting a dusting in KC of light and fluffy snow eastward of up to 2 inches of snow which would not have stuck to the roads, meaning treating ahead of the storm would not be effective, and would have created more work for crews,” said Melissa Black, communications manager for MoDOT’s Kansas City District.
Crews did do some spot treating ahead of the storm on some bridges, elevated surfaces and ramps, she said.
“When the storm came in however, it was thicker, heavier snow at a higher rate per hour than what we were expecting, so we switched to plowing and treating at that point,” Black said.
By the time snowflakes stopped falling in the afternoon, the first snowstorm of the season dumped between 1 and nearly 5.5 inches of snow in a narrow band along Interstate 70, the National Weather Service said on Facebook. Kansas City International Airport reported 1.1 inches of snow.
Snowfall totals elsewhere in the metro reported to the weather service included 1 inch in Olathe, 2 inches in Overland Park, 4.5 inches near Tonganoxie, 4 inches around Kansas City, Kansas, 3.5 inches in Kansas City North and 5.5 inches near Oak Grove.
Platt, who characterized the city’s response to the storm as “excellent,” said they did not get not get a “ton of complaints,” but the ones he personally saw were for state roads, highways and ramps. He acknowledged the city will have to work a little more closely with MoDOT to ensure the same level of response on state roads and highways.
Lessons from the past
For years, Kansas City residents said they were displeased with how long it takes the city to remove snow and ice from their streets. In 2018, streets remained mired in ice and snow for more than three days after nearly six inches of snow fell.
Four years ago, the city dramatically changed its approach to snow and ice storms, switching to a 24-hour a day snow operation beginning when the first flakes start to fall until all the streets are clear, Platt said. The city also added 50 new vehicles and 100 new drivers.
“We continue to add more drivers as the years go on as we find more people in different departments throughout the city that are both interested in participating and being a part of the team and also that aren’t able to do other things,” Platt said.
The city now has more than 300 trucks to clear 6,400 lane miles and more than 400 employees trained in snow removal.
The city also began doing curb-to-curb plowing on every street in every neighborhood. Previously, the city would do a single pass on neighborhood streets. Sometimes that pass would be at the end of the storm or would come days later, leaving the road covered in ice for days, making it impassable.
The city is also more aggressive in its pre-treating of roads with salt, heading out about 24 hours before a storm to apply a layer of salt.
“The salt helps to melt those first few snowflakes that fall,” Platt said. “About to an inch of snow can be melted, maybe a little more, from that salt layer we put down and that helps us get ahead when the storm starts so we’re not playing catch up the entire time.”
Prior to the storm, the city said its salt domes were stocked with a total of 40,000 tons of salt, 8,000 tons of Ice Ban and 36,000 gallons of liquid magnesium chloride. It also has an additional 10,000 tons of salt and Ice Ban in reserve ready to be delivered as needed.
The plows also have new technology that shows drivers a digital map and route they need to clear. When a street section is cleared, the segment changes from red to green. This allows the city to manage resources and adjust routes if needed.
‘Every storm a little different’
The more aggressive approach is really important, Platt said, especially with storms like the one this past weekend where forecasts indicated only a dusting to maybe an inch of snow was expected.
The city had a team meeting Friday morning to assess the updates in the forecast and the plan of attack. The city decided it needed to start sending out crews to pre-treat all the city’s roads. That stretched into Friday night.
“That was really helpful in this situation because we got all our roads treated and then we had a sort of surprise, very heavy snow downfall moment in the late morning on Saturday,” Platt said.
Michael Shaw, Kansas City’s public works director, said he felt snow operations went well, but it said it wasn’t necessarily a major event. The storm, however, dumped the snow at one time and then kind of trickled off.
“Those burst of snow like that, you know, we have to kind of let it snow and then push it when it’s done,” Shaw said.
Short-lived snow events early in the season are a good way to break in new members to the city’s snow team, Shaw said. It gives them good practice.
Platt said the number of crashes on Saturday is a reason that the city asks people to stay off the road when it’s snowing. He said there are moments where the snowfall is faster than the salt or plows can keep up with and it takes a bit of time to catch up.
“We’re out there very aggressively working to keep our streets clear, but unless you’ve got a very urgent reason to be on the streets, we ask everyone to stay home and let our plows do the work,” he said.
Most of the city’s roads were cleared a few hours after the snow stopped, he said. Many of the neighborhood roads were done six to eight hours after the snow stopped, with the exception of a few slick spots.
The city ended its formal snow removal operation around 11:30 p.m. Saturday night, Platt said. It had crews out Sunday and Monday catching slick spots and areas that might have been missed or needed more attention.
The city has added clearing bike/mobility lanes and city-owned sidewalks to its operations. The goal is to have those clear within 48 hours after the snow has stopped.
Preliminary numbers show that about 220 people and trucks reported and about 1,000 tons of salt and 200 tons of Ice Ban were used. The Ice Ban was used in neighborhoods because it is able to melt snow at lower temperatures, which helps in less traveled areas, said Sherae Honeycutt, city spokeswoman.
“We’re always learning, and every storm is a little different,” Platt said. “So it’s just an ongoing process and evolution for us.”
Less-experienced snowplow drivers
MoDOT said that with every storm, it has every available snowplow operator working 12-hour shifts until the major roads are mostly clear after the storm ends, Black said.
Going into this winter season, nearly 19% of it’s snowplow operators have less than one year of experience. Nearly 37% have less than three years of experience. Black said these percentages are higher than last year, with even more employees overall in the on-to-three year range of experience.
A light winter last year meant new hires didn’t get their full on-the-job training. Many of the new employees were still training with a seasoned operator for the first part of the winter, which also limits how many trucks are staffed, Black said.
MoDOT had crews out beginning Friday night through Saturday. Some of the challenges from the first storm involved training new workers, doubling them up in trucks to get them trained and the snow coming down quickly in a concentrated area, Black said.
“We shifted staff to help cover it as well as we could,” Black said.
In general, MoDOT is working with a reduced staff, so it is unable to complete as many passes on the roads over a 24-hour period as it has in the past, Black said. Lower volume routes will take significantly longer to clear after a winter storm. Depending on the storms severity, the secondary priority roads may not be addressed for 24 hours or more after a storm ends.
MoDOT evaluates each approaching storm and moves staff to clear interstates and major routes first.
“MoDOT understands that each road is a priority to drivers; however, there are not enough workers or trucks to clear all highways immediately,” Black said.
This story was originally published December 3, 2024 at 5:31 PM.
