Lawrence Public Schools will be closed again as the coldest of cold temperatures this week are expected overnight and into Thursday morning.
Thursday will mark the ninth inclement weather day for the district this year.
An extreme cold warning is in effect through noon Thursday for Lawrence. Douglas County could see wind chills as low as -20° to -30° Thursday morning, and temperatures are expected to hit a low of -13°, according to the National Weather Service in Topeka.
“We share your frustrations with continued school closures and understand the hardships they cause for families,” district spokesperson Julie Boyle wrote in an email to families Wednesday afternoon. “Unfortunately, weather-related safety concerns with bitterly cold temperatures persist and prevent us from returning to school tomorrow.”
However, Friday is expected to see a high near 23°, followed by highs near 36° and 50° Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Next week, the temperatures should bounce back and could reach into the 60s — Monday and Tuesday highs are 61° and 62° in the forecast.
The district had hoped to reopen Thursday after closures on Tuesday and Wednesday, but the extremely cold temperatures pose a danger to anyone walking to school or waiting outside for a bus.
“We miss our students and hope to be able to return to school soon,” Boyle wrote.
See links to more severe weather resources and information below. See this page for more weather coverage.
Other closures, cancellations and service changes on Thursday, Feb. 20:
We’ll add to this list as we learn of additional closures. Post last updated at 7:48 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 19
• Lawrence Transit service is canceled until 8 p.m. Thursday, when overnight on demand service is planned to start back up. Buses will be available Friday and service will resume as usual. If that changes, updates will be posted at lawrencetransit.org.
• Haskell Indian Nations University campus will be closed. The dining facility will ensure students have access to food.
• The University of Kansas will reopen Thursday, but bus service will be limited, so some additional parking options will be available.
The university will run its normal KU on Wheels bus schedule with routes 11, 12 and 30-44. KU is opening parking lot 300 at the Lied Center and lot 302 to non-permit holders to help accommodate people who would normally be riding city buses to get to campus. Route 42 runs through the parking lots every 9 to 12 minutes. See a map of parking lots at this link.
• Eudora schools will be closed.
• Baldwin City schools will be closed. Baldwin High School girls basketball at Eudora will continue as planned; coaches and sponsors will communicate decisions about other activities and athletics by noon Thursday.
• Perry-Lecompton schools will be closed and all activities will be canceled.
• Tonganoxie schools and all district buildings will be closed.
• Basehor-Linwood schools will be closed.
• Santa Fe Trail schools will be closed, and all activities have been canceled.
• McLouth school and all activities will be canceled.
• Wellsville schools will be closed. The district will make an announcement on activities and practices by noon Thursday and post it on the district website.
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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.
This post is by the Lawrence Times news team.
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