Northeast News
December 12, 2013

City of Kansas City crews are already prepping for the wintry mix expected to head into Kansas City tomorrow morning.

Kansas City residents can expect to see a mix of rain, sleet and snow. The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch for the Greater Kansas City region from Friday, Dec. 13 at noon through Saturday, Dec. 14 at 9 a.m.

Light freezing rain is expected to occur Friday morning, transitioning to rain around noon. A change to snow will likely take place around the afternoon rush hour, with heavier snow falling in the evening and overnight. A total of 3-6 inches of snow is expected to accumulate.

The city has approximately 6,400 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.

Crews assigned to primary/arterial routes will report to work Friday, Dec. 13, at 7:30 a.m. Crews will be split into two 12-hour shifts to provide around-the-clock coverage. Crews on residential snow routes will be on alert Friday, Dec. 13, and will begin plowing when the snow stops during daylight hours.

On residential snow routes, city crews will clear a passable lane and apply salt on intersections, hills and curves. As possible, crews will widen the passable lane, which may still have some snow pack due to low pavement temperatures. In the event of severe snow, cul-de-sacs and dead ends will be plowed after arterial, collector and through residential streets. This ensures that city crews may use their resources most effectively.

If snow depths exceed a couple of inches, residents should park cars off-street in order to maximize snow plowing operations. Residents parking on signed Emergency Snow Routes should be prepared to find alternate parking locations to avoid vehicles being ticketed or towed.

3-1-1 Action Center Protocol

Residents wanting to report slick spots or missed streets may call the City’s 311 Call Center. However, residents are advised that while crews are running assigned snow routes, it is assumed that all streets are slick. 3-1-1 will only accept requests for slick spots and missed streets once the snow has stopped falling and all snow routes have been completed. This usually occurs about 36 hours after the snow stops falling.

To view the city’s snow plowing progress, visit www.kcmo.org/snow for a GPS snow plow map and other snow-related updates. To receive text and email notifications from the city, please sign up for the Nixle notification system at www.kcmo.org/nixle. Residents may also sign up by texting their zip code to “888777.”