Lawrence is expected to receive rainfall that quickly transitions into brief snowfall Saturday, according to a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
NWS Meteorologist Chelsea Picha said the radar on Friday showed that rain beginning in the early morning hours Saturday will become wet, slushy snow. She said the snowfall is expected to move off to the east before 2 p.m. Saturday. Half an inch is possible, but that’s on the high end.
“There may be a trace at best,” Picha said.
Heavier wintry weather is coming north of Kansas, closer to the Nebraska border. Although temperatures will drop from Saturday to Sunday, Picha said icy conditions are not likely in Lawrence.
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“There’s some really light precipitation developing aloft more to the northeast currently,” Picha said. “If anything would develop earlier this afternoon before warmer air can move in, then maybe, but chances of that would be pretty slim for this area.”
Additional snowfall may occur early Monday morning through the afternoon with more potential for accumulation than the snow Saturday. Picha said she’s uncertain right now about the exact amounts, but chances for at least an inch Monday are increasing, and travel may be impacted. She recommends folks stay tuned as the NWS closely monitors and updates the forecast.
The NWS forecast shows a high temperature of 44° on Saturday, leading to potential overnight lows of 18°. Picha said winds will turn gusty, reaching 30 to 40 mph on Saturday afternoon, before slowly returning to around 20 mph on Sunday.
A high of 29° and low of 17° are currently forecast for Sunday, and a high of 27° and low of 14° for Monday.
City snow management
Lawrence’s first snowfall occurred around the same time in the 2024-25 season and brought half an inch.
The city’s snow and ice control operations begin in residential areas only when 2 or more inches of snow have accumulated, or when icing occurs.
Municipal Services and Operations is responsible for the city’s preparation and response. High-traffic routes, which involve school zones, bridges, hospitals, emergency facilities, buses, and commercial and industrial zones, are always pretreated and plowed first.
After MSO crews hit priority routes, they move onto residential streets when conditions allow. They do not clear alleyways in the city or windrows at the ends of driveways.
The city’s website has maps that show the priority and secondary routes, where snow plows have been when they’re active and more.
Resident responsibilities
Property owners are responsible for clearing public sidewalks adjacent to their properties within 48 hours after ice forms or snowfall ends.
If ice cannot be removed, it must be treated with sand or another traction material within the same timeframe, according to city ordinance.
The city asks that people move their vehicles off the street, if possible, to increase room for plows. Staying to one side of the street if parallel parking helps crews, too, as well as keeping trash and recycling bins at the edge of driveways instead of the street.
Visit the snow and ice page on the city’s website at lawrenceks.gov/snow and see the box of severe weather resources below for more information.
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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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Severe weather resources
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.
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.
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.
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.
