Severe weather resources for Lawrence and Douglas County
Here’s helpful info for when a storm strikes. You’ll also see this box at the bottom of our severe weather coverage.
We try to keep these resources up to date as much as possible. Please let us know ASAP if a link is broken or something needs to be updated or added to this list.
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.
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.
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.
If resources like this are helpful to you, please support The Lawrence Times.
Click here to subscribe.
Don’t miss a beat … Click here to sign up for our email newsletters
Click here to learn more about our newsletters first
Latest weather coverage:
Lawrence likely to see storms, strong winds Tuesday night
The Douglas County area will likely see thunderstorms and strong wind gusts overnight Tuesday into Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service forecast.
Rain, snow headed to Douglas County; driving could be hazardous
Some rain and snow is on the way to Douglas County, but not much is expected to stick. Blowing snow, however, could create visibility issues, making driving dangerous.
Lawrence school district to add makeup time into school days, extra days at end of year
The Lawrence school district will make up for nine inclement weather days this year by tacking minutes onto the end of school days and adding a day and a half day to the end of the year.
Latest Lawrence news:
Search for missing Lawrence woman canceled; no confirmed sightings since March 21
A coordinated search for a Lawrence woman now missing for three weeks has been canceled, but Wanda Dyer’s family and search organizers ask people to please keep looking for her.
Molly Adams / Lawrence Times
Haskell, KU student researchers present their work at annual symposium
Student scientists in now-defunded KU and Haskell programs showcased their work Thursday, sharing research ranging from depression treatments for veterans and proteins’ impact on tumor cells to gene mutations, behavior of prairie voles and more.
August Rudisell/Lawrence Times
Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health encourages vaccination as measles cases rise elsewhere in Kansas
Lawrence-Douglas County Public Health wants to encourage everyone in the community to get vaccinated against measles to reach herd immunity as Kansas’ total number of cases has risen to 32.
August Rudisell/Lawrence Times
Federal cuts raise challenges for Watkins Museum, Humanities Kansas
A $250,000 grant for the Watkins Museum to expand exhibits on local Indigenous history is in limbo and a Lawrence event honoring veterans will be canceled amid federal cuts to humanities programs.
Timeline to release point-in-time count of people experiencing homelessness is unclear
The timeline for processing this year’s final point-in-time count data — the annual count of people experiencing homelessness — is unclear because of chaos at the federal level, and the work may fall on local agencies to complete.
