Snow totals less than expected, but cold remains

A winter storm left a few inches of snow and dangerous cold overnight across the Kansas City region, but accumulations were expected to fall below earlier projections.

The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for light snow and dangerously low temperatures until 6 p.m. Sunday, canceling a winter storm warning it had issued Saturday. An additional 1 to 2 inches of snow was possible Sunday. The cold was expected to linger through Monday, with -2 to -6 overnight lows forecast.

“One thing that cut down on snowfall amount was the sleet,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Blair. “When there's more sleet, there's less of the fluffy snow.”

Northern parts of the metro saw anywhere from 2 to 3 inches of snow Sunday morning. The St. Joseph area recorded totals of 3-4 inches, and Johnson County accumulation ranged from 1 to 3 inches, Blair said.

Many roadways were snow-covered and snow-packed across eastern Kansas and western Missouri. High temperatures Sunday were not expected to rise above single digits, and winds of 15 to 20 mph may cause visibility problems. Those winds also were to cause wind chills of 15 to 20 degrees below zero.

Lows on Monday morning were forecast to be from -2 to -6 with wind chills of between -10 to -20.

Projections earlier in the week called for as much as 7 inches of snow. But accumulation as of Sunday morning fell short of that number.

“It really hasn’t been too bad considering what we thought the forecast was going to be,” said Kim Qualls, public affairs manager for KDOT. “But with that said, everybody is fighting brutally cold temperatures, so that's a challenge for anyone that's out there.”

Police, fire and emergency medical agencies responded to a slew of minor wrecks Saturday evening— the fallout from ever-slicker roads. The Missouri Highway Patrol reported crashes in 13 counties north from Platte County as far south as Benton County.

City street crews powered up 175 trucks to salt major roadways, with an addition 65 sent to work in residential areas.

“What we're looking at more than anything else is allow us to get in there, get the work done, and allow us to get the roads to where people can get to work on Monday,” said Sean Demory, Kansas City Public Works Department spokesman.

Whiteman Air Force Base in west-central Missouri cut short weekend drills for more than 1,000 reservists because of the pending storm.

This story was originally published March 1, 2014 at 3:58 PM with the headline "Snow totals less than expected, but cold remains."