Dec 30, 2020

St. Joseph city crews prepare for round two of winter weather this week

Posted Dec 30, 2020 9:22 PM

By TOMMY REZAC

St. Joseph Post

As city crews in St. Joseph continue to clean up from Tuesday’s winter storm, they’re also looking toward another impending system set to impact the area Thursday night into Friday.

St. Joseph and a large portion of eastern Kansas and western Missouri are under a Winter Storm Watch from Thursday night through Friday afternoon.

This comes as St. Joseph crews cleared more than 150 tree limbs that were obstructing traffic and power lines around town after Tuesday night’s storm left thousands without power.

City communications manager Mary Robertson says there’s still a few leftover slick spots from Tuesday’s event.

"Supervisors are out checking bridges and overpasses," she said. "Those areas are still being monitored."

This next system could also bring another wintry mix, but Robertson says, like many forecasters, that the level of uncertainty with this next storm makes it hard to predict.

"This impending storm could take several different directions," Robertson said. "It could be a combination of snow and ice or one or the other. We do encourage folks that if they do not have to get out that they absolutely stay at home."

St. Joseph and the surrounding area could see 1-3 inches of snow by late Friday, along with an additional three-tenths of an inch of ice. Robertson says city crews plan to use the same salt brine/beet juice pre-treatment mixture on the roads that they used ahead of Tuesday’s storm.

"That pre-treatment was very effective," Robertson stated. "The crews were able to get all of the streets and it helps to expedite the melting of the snow."