The Lawrence Public Library will close early — at 5 p.m. — Tuesday as extreme cold persists and roads are still in rough shape.
“Given the hazardous temperatures and road conditions, we’re taking extra precaution and closing before it gets dark tonight,” library staff wrote in an email to patrons Tuesday afternoon.
The digital library is open 24/7.
The wind chill forecast during the day Tuesday is between -1° and 9°, and the overnight low going into Wednesday is 1°, according to the National Weather Service in Topeka. Wednesday wind chills are forecast between -6° and 4°.
Temperatures will warm up a bit later in the week, but they’re not expected to get above freezing, according to NWS.
Meanwhile, city crews are still working to clear the approximate foot of snow the city received in Sunday’s blizzard.
Other closures and changes for Wednesday, Jan. 8:
We’ll post additional closures and service changes here as we receive them.
List last updated: 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 7
• Lawrence Public Schools will be closed.
“Despite the valiant efforts of our custodial and facilities and operations team, we continue to be challenged in effectively clearing sidewalks, driveways, and parking areas across the district due to the sheer amount of snow and the layer of ice beneath it. Some vehicles clearing snow have become stuck and must be dug out before continuing this work,” district spokesperson Julie Boyle wrote in an email to school families on Tuesday.
In addition, some neighborhood streets and walkways are still not cleared, and district transportation partners also have concerns about their ability to complete some bus routes, Boyle wrote.
• Eudora schools will be closed.
• Baldwin schools will be closed, and the BHS home basketball games versus Tonganoxie has been postponed.
• Perry-Lecompton schools will be closed, and all activities are canceled.
• Solid waste services in Lawrence will be delayed by one day all week, and some services will be unavailable this week. (Read more at this link.)
See more severe weather resources and information linked 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.
This post is by the Lawrence Times news team.
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August Rudisell/Lawrence Times
August Rudisell/Lawrence Times
