Douglas County sees roughly 3 inches of snow; storm will diminish but cold will persist

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Post updated to add photos at 11:16 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12:

Douglas County recorded anywhere from around 2 to 3.5 inches of snow through Wednesday morning, according to the National Weather Service in Topeka.

Meteorologist Kyle Poage said NWS had received reports of snow ranging from 2.2 inches and 3 inches in Lecompton to 3.5 inches about 8 miles south of Eudora as of 8 a.m. Wednesday.

Douglas County Emergency Management staff measured about 3.25 inches of snow near the county courthouse in downtown Lawrence as of around 9:30 a.m.

Poage said there could be about 1 more inch of snow throughout the day, but NWS expects the storm to diminish through the afternoon.

However, cold temperatures will stick around — Poage said there is a low of about 3° in the forecast for Lawrence with wind chills as low as -8°.

In addition, “We have another storm system coming in around Saturday, another one again around Tuesday, for more chances for wintry precipitation,” he said.

Temperatures will be around the lower single digits again Saturday and through early next week as well, he said. Wind chills could be as low as -10° throughout next week, he said.

Photos taken around town early Wednesday showed roads not nearly as covered as they were after the city saw nearly a foot of snow in January.

August Rudisell/Lawrence Times Downtown roads were fairly passable early Wednesday.
August Rudisell/Lawrence Times
August Rudisell/Lawrence Times KU’s campus is blanketed in snow early Wednesday.
August Rudisell/Lawrence Times KU’s campus and Memorial Stadium are covered in snow.
August Rudisell/Lawrence Times Crews were at work to clear sidewalks and bus stops on KU’s campus.
August Rudisell/Lawrence Times
August Rudisell/Lawrence Times Roads had been plowed near 23rd and Louisiana streets in Lawrence.

See a list of weather-related closures for Wednesday at this link.

See more weather info and links to resources 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. Do not go near the line.

Highway conditions beyond Lawrence:
KanDrive, an app and website from the Kansas Department of Transportation, has info on highway conditions statewide. KanDrive is available online at KanDrive.gov, and its app is available for download free on the App Store and Google Play.

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.

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