More inches of snow are expected to hit Lawrence throughout the day Sunday, to be followed by extremely cold temperatures and wind chills on Monday.
Adam Jones, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Topeka, said around 11:30 a.m. Sunday that Douglas County could expect to see another 5 or 6 inches of snow on top of roughly 6 to 7 inches already reported.
Areas of Lawrence and Douglas County also received anywhere from one-tenth to one-quarter of an inch of ice in the storm as well, Jones said.
After the snow starts to dissipate around 9 or 10 p.m. Sunday, cold air will move in, Jones said. Overnight low temperatures going into Monday will be in the single digits or below zero, he said.
Update:
• Lawrence received nearly a foot of snow in blizzard; dangerous wind chills incoming, Jan. 6, 2025
Monday won’t get much warmer with a high of 15° in the forecast, and Jones said the biggest concerns will be the wind chills. Wind speeds of just 5 to 10 mph are expected, but wind chill values could be as low as 10° or 15° below zero.
For the rest of Sunday, Jones said folks should avoid travel as much as possible. Even if the roads get cleared up enough to drive, blowing snow and whiteout conditions will be hazards, he said.
As the Lawrence Police Department summarized in a tweet Sunday, “Everything outside sucks. It’s miserable out. It’s windy, it’s cold, and the roads are terrible.”
Closures for Monday, Jan. 6:
We’ll update this list with more closures that are sent to us. (For Tuesday closures, see this post.)
List last updated: 1:44 p.m. Monday, Jan. 6
• Lawrence Public Schools will be closed Monday (and Tuesday).
• City of Lawrence facilities, including city hall and recreational facilities, will be closed. (More details at this link.)
• Douglas County District Court will be closed.
• The University of Kansas’ Lawrence, Edwards and Leavenworth campuses will be closed.
• Lawrence Transit initially announced that buses would be in service Monday but would get a late start. However, “Based on updated road conditions and heavy snow accumulation, there will be no bus service” on Monday, according to a Sunday evening announcement. That includes paratransit and on demand services, and Central Station will be closed Monday.
• The Lawrence Public Library will be closed. The digital library is open 24/7.
• Douglas County government offices will be closed.
• The Senior Resource Center for Douglas County, including Senior Wheels, will be closed.
• Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health’s physical office and clinic will be closed. “We will be able to offer some services remotely. Please contact us at 785-843-3060 during business hours for assistance,” according to the health department.
• The Lawrence Arts Center will be closed.
• Peaslee Tech will be closed.
• Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority will be closed.
• As of the latest update on this post, the Kansas Department of Transportation said roads and highways were beginning to reopen. See details at this link.
• Lawrence Humane Society will be closed.
• Eudora schools and the Eudora-De Soto Technical Education Center will be closed.
• Perry-Lecompton Public Schools will be closed, and middle school athletics events are canceled.
• Baker University: Classes on the Baldwin City campus will be held virtually Monday, and offices will be closed. The Overland Park campus will be closed.
• The Baldwin City School District will cancel staff professional learning, practices and events on Monday, and all district facilities will be closed.
• Gov. Laura Kelly has ordered state office buildings in Shawnee County to be closed. The Kansas Judicial Center will be closed.
Other weather-related changes and notes:
• Solid waste service in Lawrence will be delayed by one day all week. Some services will also be limited. (Read more at this link.)
• The emergency department at LMH Health’s main campus (325 Maine St.) will be open; however, all LMH Health clinics in Lawrence, Baldwin City, Eudora, Tonganoxie and McLouth will be closed Monday, and all LMH Health outpatient services scheduled for Monday have also been canceled. Patients can check lmh.org for more information.
• Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center: “All crisis services will continue to operate in person, while outpatient and community-based services have been moved to telehealth for the safety of our clients & team members,” according to the center’s website. Call 785-843-9192 if needed to adjust appointments.
Find more severe weather information, resources and links to latest news 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.
City of Lawrence snow info:
• The city has snow information and a map at lawrenceks.org/snow that shows information about road conditions and where snowplows have been. The city typically begins snow and ice control for residential roadways when 2 or more inches of snowfall or icing occurs.
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 Evergy’s emergency line, 800-383-1183, if above-ground lines are arcing or making contact with trees or vegetation. Call 911 immediately if overhead power lines are on the ground or a fire starts.
Air quality:
• Check the current air quality index in Lawrence and elsewhere through AirNow, airnow.gov.
Mackenzie Clark (she/her), reporter/founder of The Lawrence Times, can be reached at mclark@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
Latest Lawrence news:
Natasha Torkzaban/Lawrence Times
Nathan Kramer / Lawrence Times
Nathan Kramer / Lawrence Times
