Douglas County likely won’t get quite as much snow as the National Weather Service in Topeka had forecast on Monday, but some snow and very dangerously cold temperatures and wind chills are still on their way.
The forecast showed Tuesday that wind chills as low as 40 below 0° are expected from late Wednesday night through noon Friday. The forecast shows extreme cold temperatures expected to stick around through Saturday.
“Once the cold front arrives late Wednesday night or early Thursday, temperatures will plummet,” according to the NWS. “By Thursday night into Friday morning, wind chills should drop into the -30s, (rivaling) or even exceeding what we saw in February 2021.”
“… The dangerously cold wind chills could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 10 minutes,” according to NWS.
A winter storm warning is in effect from Wednesday evening through Thursday evening, though it looked less likely Tuesday that Douglas County would receive 6-plus inches of snow, as Monday’s forecast had shown. Snow is expected to begin late Wednesday and continue through noon Thursday, according to NWS.
The probability of 2-plus inches of snowfall was still around 70-80%, and there was still a small possibility of 4-plus inches of snow. However, strong winds and very cold temperatures are expected to cause dangerous travel conditions even if there’s not as much snow on the ground, according to NWS.
For resources and updates:
• With dangerously cold temperatures in the forecast over the next several days, the Community Building will be open around the clock if the city can get enough volunteers. Read more about that at this link.
• The city has snow information and a map at this link that shows information about road conditions and snow plow locations. The city typically begins snow and ice control for residential roadways when 2 or more inches of snowfall or icing occurs.
• Keep up with the latest from the National Weather Service at this link. The NWS is also on Twitter and Facebook.
• Local information is also available via Douglas County Emergency Management on Twitter and Facebook.
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