If you think the roads you’re driving on seem worse than usual this winter, you’re probably right.The waves of snowstorms in much of the country have exhausted supplies of rock salt, the main tool that road crews use to melt ice and snow. Even areas with vast quantities of salt underground are having a hard time getting it onto their streets this year.
When Milwaukee fights road ice with cheese brine, New Jersey breaks out the pickle juice and New York, a major salt producer, declares a salt shortage, you know you’ve got a widespread problem.
The state of Missouri is shipping fresh supplies to storage barns in Kansas City, but there is no guarantee there will be enough to last until spring.
A tractor trailer loaded with salt pulled into a Lee’s Summit storage dome Thursday within minutes of Missouri Governor Jay Nixon's arrival for a press conference.
The dome was last filled six weeks ago, but it was virtually empty after recent snowstorms.
Missouri Department of Transportation Director, David Nichols says salt is being shipped into and then around the state to meet demand.
January 12, 1888, began as an exceptionally warm winter day. Farmers were tending to their fields as boys and girls raced to school with no coats or gloves.
Mid-morning in the Dakotas and around afternoon dismissal in Nebraska, hurricane-force winds and torrential snow engulfed the plains. By midnight, wind-chills had plummeted to 40 below zero.
The next morning, up to 500 people lay dead on the prairie, many of them school children, who died while trying to find their way home.
Be grateful if your employer allows you to stay home on snow days. For hospital workers, they can mean days away from home.
University of Kansas doctors, nurses and other emergency health providers slept in cots at the hospital before and after the snow storm that pummeled Kansas City on Tuesday.
"We're operating like a hotel," says Jill Chadwick of KU Hospital.
KU Hospital's clinics were closed Tuesday, but the emergency room, as well as services like chemotherapy and organ transplants, continued operations as scheduled.
Kansas City area drivers may not love multi-inch snowfalls but since 2005 they have stood a better chance of getting through it. That was the first time something called a “tow-plow” showed up on highways and it was created in Kansas City as one-of-kind. Since those days, its use has spread to other parts of the county.
The contraption is pulled behind a truck instead of pushed from the front.
The snow storm approaching the Kansas City metro area could deliver the deepest blanket of white this year. The storm is prompting calls for people to stay off the streets Tuesday – when the heaviest snowfall is expected between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
The prospect of further clogged highways and streets in and around Kansas City has brought pleas from both the Kansas Department of Transportation and the Missouri Department of Transportation.
A winter storm that is expected to move across the Kansas City metro area Tuesday has prompted the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDot) to urge people to stay home, if possible.
"This storm is forecast to shape up much like the heavy snow we faced nearly a year ago," said MoDOT engineer Dan Niec, in a release Monday.
Niec said in February 2013 many employers sent workers home midday after they realized how heavy the snow was falling, clogging highways and interstates and bringing snow removal efforts to a standstill.
An Amtrak train carrying more than 200 people arrived in Chicago early Monday morning, Jan. 6, after the bitterly cold weather stopped it for more than eight hours.
In the latest edition of 90-Mile View, Amtrak engineer and conductor Eric Peterson talks with Up to Date host Steve Kraske about the effects of the recent country-wide deep-freeze on railroad operations. Peterson has previously appeared on the program to share his love of trains and tales from the tracks.
In answer to the bitter cold, a Kansas City Salvation Army team that deals with the camp-living homeless will be out for the next three nights. The numbers served are small, but the services are life-saving.
On a Summer night, relief volunteers see about a hundred people in the makeshift camps. Numbers dwindle to 30 or 60 a night when the harshest winter hits.
Sean Tyson runs emergency and disaster aid for the Salvation Army, which brings clothing and warm food to people in woods along the Missouri River and its bridges and West Bottoms.
Winter weather is expected to move across the Kansas City area this weekend, likely bringing freezing rain, snow and ice.
The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for the Kansas City metro. Ice accumulations on Saturday are expected to be less than an inch, Saturday night could see up to eight inches of snow.
Rain is expected to continue this afternoon with snow tonight and overnight, according to an update from the National Weather Service.
In the latest report, NWS forecasters say: "Light snow accumulations will be possible with a dusting to 3" in the local area. Snow will end by daybreak Saturday, with a chilly day anticipated."
A winter weather advisory remains in effect for the metro area through 9 a.m. on Saturday.
Kansas City area drivers have had 8 months—to the day—to forget what it’s like to drive through 12 inches of snow falling in a single day. That February 21, mammoth fall was followed by an identical one four days later.
So, as we gear up for winter again, how ready are the metro Kansas City highway departments for 2013?
There is relief forecast for metro residents who sweltered through the last work week.
Normal temperatures this time of year in Kansas City range from 89 to 91 degrees.
The trend departs from the season of 2012.
Records show there were 11 days of 100 degrees or higher up to July 22 of last year. The highest at downtown airport was 107. Kansas City International was 106 degrees.
The moderation of the last full week of the month will give way in August to something like the first part of July, according to some meteorologists.
Temperatures could hit as high as 98 degrees Tuesday with the heat index reaching 108 degrees, but those temperatures aren’t expected to last long. The National Weather Service has issued a heat advisory for the Kansas City area. It begins at noon and lasts until 7 p.m. Tuesday evening.
National Weather Service Meteorologist Ryan Cutter in Pleasant Hill, Mo. says a cold front will break the heat this evening and could bring thunderstorms.
An extended interview with Susan Buchanan of the National Weather Service.
People in the path of severe weather (and other emergencies) now have a new way to find out about threats: text message alerts, sent straight to mobile devices.
Updated 10:15 a.m Storms Aftermath Shows Power Restoration:
Utility troubleshooters from KCP&L have restored a large portion of service to harder hit areas. The utility’s web site indicated the Raytown area had 237 outages just after 10 a.m.
Six hours earlier there were 4500 without electricity. Missouri outages of more than one hundred customers in other area districts and cities include:
Update 8:33 p.m. Spring Storms Move East Out Of Metro:
The spring storm system that rolled through the Kansas City area Sunday evening brought heavy rain and high winds, but had dissipated enough to spare the region from the large hail and tornado-producing conditions that racked parts of Kansas and Oklahoma.
6:50 pm update: National Weather Service cancels tornado watches for most of the Kansas City metro area. A watch remains in effect in Linn and Miami counties.
A storm system is developing over the Kansas City region that is more likely than not to produce tornadoes.
Forecasters are predicting 6 to 10 inches of heavyweight snow moving into the area on Saturday. The snow, beginning with rain or mixed precipitation, is likely to continue into Sunday.
This snowstorm was a record-breaker, dumping the most snow Kansas City has ever seen on a February 21st. Kansas City got 9.2 inches at KCI, but some towns in the area saw even more snow than that.
Belton and Leawood both got 11.5 inches; Roeland Park totaled 12 inches, and Overland Park received the most, some 13 and a half inches.
It was a bad day to try to get around in Kansas City. KCI essentially closed at mid-morning with about 300 flights cancelled. Although flights are expected to resume later tonight, more cancellations are all but certain tomorrow morning. Driving was terrible, too.
The National Weather Service has cut its forecast for snow accumulation to one or two inches--about half of what it was earlier. A winter weather advisory remains in effect through Wednesday morning. Some school districts in outlying areas have cancelled classes.
Visit KMBC.com for the latest school and business closings and delays information for the in Kansas City, MO, area from KMBC - Kansas City's Channel 9.
The Kansas City metropolitan area started gearing up yesterday for the season's first winter storm. One to three inches of snow was forecast for the area overnight.
Governor Jay Nixon says his administration may seek legislation to protect school children. U.S. Senator Roy Blunt says greater gun control is not the answer. Those stories and more from KCUR News.
The living room of Cheryl Landes' small apartment has the cozy feel of your grandmother’s living room.
No surprise. She’s often watching four grandkids, as well as her own 13-year-old son.
This afternoon, two of them are playing with their hand-held electronic games. They can play alone, or together. They laugh as their small computers make music.
Cheryl’s 90-year-old mother, Billie, lives here too. She quietly sinks into a club chair. She has chronic lung disease, and dementia.
