Ice and snow led to treacherous road conditions in Kansas City Saturday
Freezing rain left a layer of ice on Kansas City area roads Friday night. Then 2 or more inches of snow piled on top of it Saturday.
The combination had the potential for causing dangerous driving conditions, according to Scott Blair a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Pleasant Hill.
“There’s a thin glaze of ice that we’ve heard on all of the untreated roadways so putting another 2 to 3 inches on top will lead to treacherous road conditions,” Blair said.
The ice layer, Blair said, was anywhere between a tenth and a quarter of an inch across the area.
Road Conditions
Highways on both sides of the state line were partially or completely covered by snow and ice in the KC area for most of the day according to the Kansas and Missouri departments of transportation.
On the Kansas side of the state line, two lanes of each highway had been cleared as of 11 a.m., according to Kansas Department of Transportation area superintendent Drake Jennings.
Jennings said he didn’t expect roads to be completely safe until Sunday morning. Road crews, he said, needed the snow to stop falling. Temperatures Saturday, he said, were so cold that some road treatments were not as effective as usual.
“(Roads are) passable. If you just slow down, take your time, you can definitely get to your destination,” Jennings said.
Temperatures Saturday, which sat in the low 20s, were expected to drop into the teens overnight.
Between midnight and 2 p.m. Saturday Missouri Highway Patrol Troop A, which covers the Kansas City area, worked 45 non-injury crashes and four injury crashes according to a post on Twitter.
Four of those crashes were on Northland highways within the same 30 minute period around noon Saturday. Two of those crashes involved semi trucks.
As of early Saturday afternoon Kansas City police had responded to 114 injury accidents and 59 non injury accidents since 5 p.m. Friday according to a department spokeswoman.
Closures and cancellations
The snowy weather led to some flight delays and cancellations at Kansas City International Airport Saturday morning.
Scattered power outages were reported, but no city experienced widespread issues.
Before planning the day, it’s advisable to ensure any event or church service has not been canceled.
This story was originally published January 11, 2020 at 9:37 AM.
