Freezing drizzle beginning Saturday afternoon will turn into freezing rain and sleet before transitioning into 5 to 10 inches of snow Sunday in Lawrence, according to a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
Precipitation will be heaviest Saturday night and well into Sunday, NWS meteorologist Kyle Poage said. Snowfall in Lawrence is forecast to begin after midnight Sunday, with 1 to 3 inches predicted in the morning and then another 3 to 6 inches predicted in the afternoon, he said Friday morning.
Roads will likely be icy, and Poage said he recommends people plan accordingly. Ready.gov recommends people keep emergency supply kits with jumper cables, blankets, ice scrapers and more in their cars.
Update:
• Freezing drizzle hits Lawrence; several inches of snow to follow Sunday morning, Jan. 4, 2025
“If you have to do any kind of traveling, I would get that done by noon Saturday, and I would not suggest traveling much beyond that into Sunday night,” Poage said. “It looks dangerous for travel much of this weekend.”
A high of 29° and low of 19° is in the forecast for Saturday. The forecast for Sunday includes a high of 23° and low of 2°, and temperatures will continue to decline. Monday’s windchill is forecast at as low as -10°. Cold air will settle in for the rest of next week.
Additionally, wind should pick up Sunday, Poage said, with gusts reaching 40 to 45 mph. That’s grounds for blowing and drifting snow, which can disrupt the ability to see even more as snow falls. Visibility could be limited to one-quarter mile away or less at times.
Precipitation is forecast to stop Monday, and Poage said the rest of the week should prove to be clear and dry.
See links to severe weather resources and information below.
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Severe weather resources
Get warm in Lawrence:
• See this page for locations to get warm during the day and overnight, where to get help for pets and more.
National Weather Service local office (Topeka):
• Find the latest weather forecast info and severe weather advisories for the Lawrence area at this link.
• In the event of rapidly changing severe weather, such as tornadoes, the NWS posts frequent updates on Twitter, @NWSTopeka. You do not need a Twitter account to see tweets from NWS.
• NWS is also on Facebook, facebook.com/NWSTopeka.
• Call 785-234-2592 to hear the forecast.
Douglas County Emergency Management:
• Follow @DgCoEM on Twitter or Douglas County, KS- Emergency Management on Facebook, facebook.com/dgcoem.
• Sign up to receive emergency alerts at dgcoks.org/emalerts.
• Find lots of tips on severe weather and other emergency preparedness on DgCoEM’s website at douglascountyks.org/emergency-management.
• Report storm damage (for non-emergencies only, and after storm danger has passed) by calling the nonemergency dispatch line at 785-843-0250 or 785-832-7509.
Evergy outages:
• Check the status of power outages on the Evergy outage map, outagemap.evergy.com.
• Report a power outage at evergy.com/report-outage, or call 800-544-4857.
• For down powerlines, call 911.
City of Lawrence snow info:
• The city has snow information and a map at lawrenceks.org/snow 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.
Air quality:
• Check the current air quality index in Lawrence and elsewhere through AirNow, airnow.gov.
Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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