Snow, ice cancel holiday events

A winter storm system that move in from the Rocky Mountains brought one to five inches of snow to the county Sunday, said Mick McGuire, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wichita.

The snow became packed and icy on county roads as temperatures stayed below freezing in the mid-20s, causing countywide school cancellations Monday.

Christmas programs scheduled for Monday evening were cancelled, as well.

Precipitation in the county was mostly snow after a slight downfall of wintry mix, said McGuire. Counties further south saw freezing drizzle.

Marion County engineer Brice Goebel said the county sent out crews to sand roads 4 a.m. Monday because more snow was expected later that morning.

The crews hit hills and overpasses on paid roads to combat the slick conditions, he said.

McGuire said accidents were widespread throughout the region.

“Elevated road ways and bridges that were not treated were super-slick,” he said.

The first accident in the county was reported at 3:32 p.m. Monday on 190th Rd. between Old Mill and Nighthawk Rd. A motorist lost control and went into a ditch on the roadside, hitting a power pole, said EMS director Travis Parmley, who responded.

There were three passengers in the vehicle, but all four present refused transport to a hospital.

A second one-vehicle accident was reported at 10:33 a.m. Tuesday on Sunflower Rd. near US-50. The motorist exited his vehicle before emergency responders arrived and refused any treatment or transport, Parmley said.

The vehicle, which was headed north on Sunflower Rd., spun across the road before coming to rest on its drivers side in the southbound ditch, he said.

The heavy snowfall this weekend worked in emergency responders’ favor because fewer people were on the roads, Parmley said.

“It could have certainly been worse,” he said. “The fact that it wasn’t a work day and that schools were closed helped on Monday.”

McGuire said temperatures will continue to warm up this week and may hit the low 60s by this weekend.

“We are seeing a bit of a pattern change,” he said. An upper-level ridge building in the central part of the country will mean prolonged dry weather and above- normal temperatures.”

The warm temperatures will probably melt the rest of the snowfall dampening the chance of a white Christmas for the county.

“Will there be a white Christmas? For this part of the country, No,” McGuire said.

Breakout box

The Goessel Elementary School’s Christmas Concert was rescheduled for 10 a.m. Thursday.

Hillsboro Middle School’s program was moved to Tuesday, and the high school concert was moved to 7 p.m. Thursday.

Marion High School’s Christmas Concert “likely” will be postponed until after the first of the year, a spokesperson said.

“There’s no place to fit it in,” she said.

Peabody-Burns moved its middle school/high school Christmas band concert to 6 p.m. today. A scheduled vocal program will follow.

Centre was closed for a second day Tuesday. The evening Christmas concert was postponed and has not yet been rescheduled.