More snow, cold forecast for city

Thursday, February 3, 2011
A worker from 54 & 69 Truck, Tire and Towing hooks up the truck of a contract driver for the U.S. Mail Wednesday in preparation for towing. The truck, driven by Brad Beck, got stuck on a side street off Sixth Street in Fort Scott. The Fort Scott Police Department referred the driver to 54 & 69 towing for help.(Ruth Campbell/Tribune)

Just as the city is digging out from up to 19 inches of snow, another round -- though not as dramatic -- is predicted for the beginning of next week, according to the National Weather Service in Joplin, Mo.

The storm system that hit Bourbon County and Southeast Kansas crossed the Rocky Mountains and swung through the Southern Plains, then through Arkansas and the Ohio Valley. "The counter-clockwise flow around that low pressure center bought moisture in from the south and cold air from the north leading to a mixture of very heavy snow, one to two inches of sleet and some light freezing rain over portions of the Ozarks," Warning Coordination Meteorologist Steve Runnels said.

Although the snow has stopped, the storm's impact is ongoing as Arctic air continues to descend into the region. Temperatures on Wednesday night were expected to be around -10 in Fort Scott. "And even though winds are gong to become lighter at 5-10 mph," Runnels said, "that's going to result in wind chills of around minus 20 degrees. Once it gets to be that cold, frostbite becomes likely in as little as 30 minutes."

He advises anyone going outside to cover up their hands, head and any exposed skin because it was forecast to get "dangerously cold" Wednesday night and into Thursday.

Snow flurries are forecast for Friday and into Friday night and snowfall amounts have yet to be determined. "Another storm system is developing, but snowfall amounts are not expected to be as dramatic as the snow yesterday (Tuesday). (The system) doesn't appear to be as strong."

By Wednesday morning, roads downtown were graded, except for mounds of the white stuff in the middle of the street. "We're just trying to open up our business district," Public Works Director Eric Bailey said. "That way, our downtown businesses can have access to their stores."

Bailey said crews were working 12-hour shifts. The city has an estimated 20 men from public works and public utilities on the job to help ensure the streets and emergency routes were open. He said they will try not to use overtime, but "with a storm of this magnitude, we'll probably have some overtime, but we'll try not to."

Bailey said crews began work Monday night and "we made sure we had people on duty around the clock," Bailey said, adding the workers did a "wonderful job." did a wonderful job.

"When the snow is coming down, our No. 1 priority is emergency routes and main arterial streets," Bailey said. After that, the collector routes and residential streets are cleared. Snow is taken off-site to city property and given a chance to melt, Bailey said.

On utility consumption, spokeswomen for Westar Energy and Kansas Gas Service said there is adequate supply to meet customer need.

"We will see an increase in use as temperatures fall and with people staying inside more. It won't be such that we'll see a strain on our system," Westar Manager of Corporate Communications Gina Penzig said. "We'll still have adequate supply to meet need."

"We've been fortunate so far with this storm. With the original prediction, they started talking about ice and wind," but Penzig said the outages so far have been normal. In the Fort Scott area, there was an outage on Jan. 31 -- before the snow fell -- affecting four customers that lasted 20 minutes.

Dawn Ewing, manager of communications for Kansas Gas Service, said her utility has "adequate supplies of natural gas available to serve our customers.

"We're not experiencing any type of supply issues, or any kind of mechanical or operational issues at this time. We want to encourage our customers, if they experience problems, to call. Crews are standing by to respond to any problems," Ewing said.

She advised customers take several safety precautions: Make sure nothing is obstructing a heater's air intake and that the vents and flues are intact and unblocked to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning. Also, "stoves and ovens should never be used for home heating," Ewing said.