Northeast News
February 3, 2014

A Winter Storm Warning has been issued by the National Weather Service for the greater Kansas City area beginning at 6 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4, through Wednesday, Feb. 5, at 9 a.m.

The heaviest snowfall will accumulate between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Tuesday. The storm is expected to bring six to 10 inches of snow, along with east/northeast winds between of 10 to 25 miles per hour, which may create whiteout conditions. The City of Kansas City, Mo., is encouraging residents to take precautions during this snow event and to avoid driving in these hazardous conditions. Residents should make plans to be inside tomorrow, including refilling any necessary medications today.

Residents are advised that parking cars off-street during snow plow operations greatly enhances the ability of snow plows to remove snow, especially in cul-de-sacs and dead end streets. If a vehicle must park on-street, the following parking practice is being requested:

•On streets that run north/south, park vehicles on the west side of the street.

•On streets that run east/west, park vehicles on the north side of the street.

Residents parking on signed Emergency Snow Routes should be prepared to find alternate parking locations to avoid vehicles being ticketed or towed. Vehicles without adequate tire tread that get stuck on a major thoroughfare will be ticketed and towed. Tow storage lot fees will apply.

The city of Kansas City, Mo., snow crews are preparing for the storm today by pre-treating key streets and responding to slick street requests from the 311 Call Center. Public Works has reported that the city’s salt supply is adequate to handle this storm. The city has 175 snow plows for primary and arterial routes and 65 additional plows for residential areas.

City crews assigned to primary/arterial routes have split into two 12-hour shifts to provide around the clock coverage beginning Feb. 4, at 7:30 a.m. Crews on residential snow routes also will deploy their routes on Feb. 4, at 7:30 a.m. and will work 12-hour shifts during the day until zones are clear.

The city has approximately 6,300 lane miles of pavement in its street system. To keep traffic moving throughout the city during a winter weather event, the snow plan prioritizes plowing into two types of snow routes: primary/arterial routes and residential routes.

Beginning Feb. 4 at 7 a.m. the City’s Emergency Operations Center will be activated at a level two, and personnel representing key city departments, as well as KCPL, will be present and working together to monitor the event and coordinate activities among city departments providing snow and ice removal and emergency responders from the police and fire departments.

Trash and recycling services will be on schedule, but bulky pickup services will be suspended tomorrow to allow those crews to assist with snow removal.

Residents wanting to report slick spots or missed streets to the City’s 311 Call Center should wait until the next business day after snow has stopped falling. While crews are running assigned snow routes, it is assumed that all streets are slick. Only after snow has stopped falling and all snow routes have been run does the City’s 311 Call Center accept requests for slick spots and missed streets.

Visit www.kcmo.org/snow to view the GPS snow plow map and other snow-related updates. Snow safety tips are available at http://kcmo.org/CKCMO/NewsArchives/120413B.

To receive text and email notifications from the City, please sign up for the City’s Nixle notification system at www.kcmo.org/nixle. Residents may also sign up by texting their ZIP code to “888777.”