Here are places to go to get out of winter weather in Lawrence, plus links to more information and resources.
Know of a resource we should add or something that needs to be updated here? Please let us know.
Page last updated Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025
Daytime options
The City of Lawrence is offering its recreational facilities as places to get warm during their open hours (and notes that all guests must follow facility rules).
In the event of severe weather, some or all facilities could shorten their hours or close. Check the city’s RainoutLine website and news at lawrenceks.org/news for updates.
Here are the locations and details; see a map below on this page:
Lawrence Community Building
115 W. 11th St. (just west of 11th and Massachusetts streets)
Regular hours:
8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays
9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays
East Lawrence Recreation Center
1245 E. 15th St. (just east of 15th Street and Haskell Avenue)
Regular hours:
8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays
9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays
Holcom Park Recreation Center
2700 W. 27th St. (just east of 27th Street and Lawrence Avenue)
Regular hours:
8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays
9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays
Sports Pavilion Lawrence
100 Rock Chalk Lane (~1 mile north of Sixth Street and George Williams Way on the far northwestern edge of town)
Regular hours:
5:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Fridays
7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays
1 to 9 p.m. Sundays
Overnight options
The Lawrence Community Shelter, 3655 E. 25th St., is the primary option to seek overnight shelter.
The shelter is on the eastern edge of town, near the Douglas County jail.
LCS can be reached by the Route 1 bus from downtown. It leaves the stop at Seventh and Vermont streets starting at 6 a.m., and the last downtown stop is at 7 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays.
See the full route and schedule at this link. See realtime bus location info at this link. Buses are free to ride for 2025.
LCS can accommodate pets along with their owners.
The shelter is open 24/7, and its administrative offices are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.
See LCS’s website at lawrenceshelter.org/seeking-shelter to learn more about staying there, or call 785-832-8864 for more information.
The City of Lawrence will activate its emergency overflow winter shelter plan if necessary. Updates will be posted on the city’s website at lawrenceks.org/safe-shelter/.
The city’s emergency helpline is 785-813-9483, or via email at wintershelter@lawrenceks.org.
Help for pets
The Lawrence Humane Society can help pets whose owners are experiencing homelessness with needs such as temporary boarding during extreme cold; getting up-to-date shots and paperwork; pet food; spaying and neutering and more.
LHS’ main phone number is 785-843-6835. People should visit the Pet Resource Center, which is the lime green side of the building at 1805 E. 19th St.
If people who need to bring in their pets in order to seek sheltering can call LHS to give a heads up, that’s ideal, but if that’s not possible, just show up from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Read more at this link.
On the map
This map shows the locations of the facilities mentioned above.
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.
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 911.
City of Lawrence snow info:
• The city has snow information and a map at lawrenceks.org/snow that shows information about road conditions and snow plow locations. The city typically begins snow and ice control for residential roadways when 2 or more inches of snowfall or icing occurs.
Air quality:
• Check the current air quality index in Lawrence and elsewhere through AirNow, airnow.gov.
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