Meteorologists say that a winter storm will hit Lawrence in full force Friday evening, bringing 5 to 7 inches of snow and frigid temperatures with it.
Bill Gargan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service station based in Topeka, said that the storm will likely hit the Lawrence area late Friday afternoon and pick up that evening.
He said the city will see snow in two batches, and the first will end Saturday morning. Then, Lawrence may see a lull with snow flurries or light snow but limited accumulation.
“But then as the main system moves out, a second area of snow will move back into the area Saturday night through Sunday morning, and that’s where additional snow accumulations could occur,” Gargan said.
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He said they aren’t sure how much snow Lawrence will get in the second batch, depending on where the storm moves. He estimated that there would be 5 to 7 inches of snow accumulation by the end.
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Gargan recommended being aware of the cold temperatures.
“It looks like wind chills, especially during the day Saturday, will be kind of in the -15° to -20° range,” he said. “So it looks very cold, bitterly cold. Bundle up.”
The forecast for Friday shows a high near 11° with wind chill between -6° and -11°. By Friday night, the low will be around -2°, with windchill that makes it feel between -9° and -16°. Wind gusts from the northeast could be between 10 and 20 mph by night.
The high for Saturday is 3° with a low of -2°. Again, wind chill values will make it feel significantly colder, according to the forecast. A wind from the northeast could be 5 to 10 mph.
Sunday has a high of 10° and a low of -4° come night. By Monday, the high will be 20° and it will be sunny, according to the forecast.
Sheltering options
The Lawrence Community Shelter is the city’s only winter shelter this year. Unhoused people can go to LCS and bring one pet with them.
LCS has a residency policy, meaning they only accepted Douglas County residents. Misty Bosch-Hastings, director of the city’s homeless solutions division, said via email in November that the residency policy will still apply during winter shelter. However, at that time, she said people will be sheltered throughout a weather event even if they can’t immediately verify that they are Douglas County residents, especially in the case of life-threatening temperatures.
LCS is located at 3655 E. 25th St. You can call the shelter at 785-832-8864.
Read this article for more information about how to reach LCS, where to shelter more than one pet, and more.
City snow management
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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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.
Wulfe Wulfemeyer (they/them), reporter and news editor, has worked with The Lawrence Times since May 2025. They can be reached at wulfe@lawrencekstimes.com.
Read their complete bio here. Read their work for the Times here.
