Lots of accidents during snowy commute in Wichita area. What to expect on drive home

Michael Stavola
·2 min read
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Accidents added up across the state, including in the Wichita area, as a winter storm blasted across Kansas on Monday and into Tuesday morning.

The storm was on its way out of the state Tuesday after morning commuters trekked into work.

Sedgwick County Emergency Communications took more than double the amount of calls about accidents Tuesday morning compared to the day before, data shows.

But road conditions should be better for the evening commute as the sun peers out this afternoon, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Smith.

“These clouds should continue to break out over the next few hours and that will really aid things,” the Wichita meteorologist said around 10:25 a.m.

Although the temperature is forecast to stay around or below freezing all day, any bit of sunlight helps.

“The sun really makes a big difference,” he said. “It will help clear the roads.”

KC-46 and KC-135 tankers on the flight line at McConnell Air Force Base on Tuesday morning. Airmen worked to clear snow from the runway and ramp to continue supporting off-station flying operations.
KC-46 and KC-135 tankers on the flight line at McConnell Air Force Base on Tuesday morning. Airmen worked to clear snow from the runway and ramp to continue supporting off-station flying operations.

The winds are also expected to taper off this afternoon, which will have a positive impact on driving.

The storm caused blizzard conditions in western Kansas and shut down roads across the state, including in the Wichita area. Some areas in western Kansas saw a foot or more of snow.

The storm caused power outages across the state. Nearly 40,000 homes and business were still without power around Wichita, northeast Kansas and into Missouri, an Evergy power outage map showed at 11 a.m. Evergy said it has “restored power to more than 36,000 customers” since the storm started.

Wichita saw 3 inches of snow fall. The rain that came before the snow and the drastic temperature drop left roads slick for the Tuesday morning commute.

Wichita highways had seven active accidents around 9 a.m., according to the Kansas Department of Transportation’s kandrive.gov. As of 10:30 a.m., the online resource showed highways across the state were completely covered with snow or closed.

As of 10:30 a.m., highways across Kansas were completely snow covered or even closed after a winter storm.
As of 10:30 a.m., highways across Kansas were completely snow covered or even closed after a winter storm.

In Sedgwick County, emergency communications took calls about 62 accidents from midnight until 9:30 a.m., compared with 28 in during the same time frame Monday.

Of the accidents, 48 happened in Wichita; Park City had the second most with seven.

Most of the accidents, 47, were reported as non-injury, 21 had an unknown status on the injury and four were reported as injury accidents. Three of the four happened on highways in Wichita (two on I-235 and one on a K-96 ramp at Ridge) and the other was reported at West 45th Street North and North 247th Street West in Andale.

Kandrive.gov resource allows you to see the condition of highways around Kansas. Wichita also has a resource that allows you to see roads plowed within the city. That can be found at wichita.gov/1103/Snow-Removal-Map

Have to go out in the snow? Here’s how to check Kansas road conditions in real-time