The Official Kansas City Weather Thread

[DaveKCMO]

Not sure if that is an overall record or just a record for Dec.  I do remember a snowfall that took place the first weekend of Jan in 1979 that I thought was 15 to 16 inches.  My daughter was born in late Nov, 1978 and during that snowfall I spent about 30 hours at work.

pretty sure the star referenced 16" as the official record for snowfall. this storm was in the top 5, if i recall.

[Jess]

Mine got plowed this morning before 5 am and I have to be somewhere on the bottom of the list.

Still not plowed on our street.  I did see them closing off Third Street downtown to shovel the snow out with heavy equipment a few hours ago, though, probably in anticipation of the upcoming weather.  Guessing I won't get the same treatment as City Hall, however.  Near accident turning off 291 onto 2nd street this a.m., though, thanks to a big random car-sized stalagmite of snow left by plows.

My school (along with 92 others in the area) was cancelled today (which surprised me, I didn't even think to check the cancellation board, since it's no worse than it was yesterday, and we were in session...I showed up today, and was the only one there).  Lee's Summit's in session, though.

[NDTeve]

Still not plowed on our street.  I did see them closing off Third Street downtown to shovel the snow out with heavy equipment a few hours ago, though, probably in anticipation of the upcoming weather.  Guessing I won't get the same treatment as City Hall, however.  Near accident turning off 291 onto 2nd street this a.m., though, thanks to a big random car-sized stalagmite of snow left by plows.

My school (along with 92 others in the area) was cancelled today (which surprised me, I didn't even think to check the cancellation board, since it's no worse than it was yesterday, and we were in session...I showed up today, and was the only one there).  Lee's Summit's in session, though.

all but guaranteed that you'll have thursday and friday off.

[KCMax]

Why does snow plowing in KC lag behind that in other cities? City officials explain

It?s the question that hits whenever we get a big snowstorm: Why can?t Kansas City plow its streets as well as nearby suburbs do?

And some answers emerged Tuesday: Far more miles of roads, narrower streets crammed with cars, too little staff and relentless budget trimming....

For example, Kansas City plows more than 4,200 lane-miles of main arterials and residential roads, compared with 1,800 lane-miles in Overland Park. During the last round of storms, Overland Park had 125 people involved in snow operations, compared with about 200 to 250 in Kansas City.

Staffing cuts and shortages haven?t helped. Since 1998, Kansas City?s street maintenance staff has dropped from 174 to about 110.

[DaveKCMO]

there was a snow-plowing bitch fest on up-to-date this morning. i didn't listen, but i'm sure it was lame and pathetic. the city's behind... no shit!

[NDTeve]

Really coming down here in Mission. Need to get home to KCMO before the streets really get bad. 

[bahua]

Normally, the city's strategy of waiting for the snow to melt works well, as snow rarely lasts longer than a day or two here, but man, this is crazy.

[KCPowercat]

yeah I don't think public works even has plans for this type of weather given it's rarity.

[DaveKCMO]

new fox 4 slogans: "more facts, less drama" and "calm during the storm". no doubt this is in response to katie horner's multiple snowgasms.

[midtown]

Took me 2 hours to get home via bus tonight as opposed to the usual hour.  The Jo did pretty much everything they could right, I-35 north was just a total disaster zone.

[FangKC]

This is one of the problems of KCMO having annexed so much land, and adding so many low-density streets to have to maintain--yet these areas have little population to help pay for it.

As for the snow budget, I don't know why the City doesn't allocate enough money in the budget EVERY year to clear the streets during a "bad" winter--even when we don't end up having a lot of snow. The City should assume that every winter will be a bad winter.

Then, when we don't use up all the money, it is returned back to the budget in the next fiscal year to be transferred to other purposes.

This leftover money could enhance the funds for repairing snow plows and other snow clearance vehicles.  I heard on KC Week in Review, or Ruckus, on PBS, that many of the snow removal vehicles owned by the City's Public Works Department were not available during the snow crisis. A number of them need repairing or replacement.

Or, leftover money would automatically be transferred to an account to demolish dangerous buildings, or cut weeds. There is never enough money for those tasks. Thus, those accounts would be "enhanced" after winters when the snow removal budget wasn't used up.

Snow removal is one of the most important responsibilities a city has, since it affects every single person in the Metro if it is not accomplished correctly. It affects the local economy when days go by without normal commerce. Sales tax collections drop when people stay home and don't shop, or buy services.

Few other things a city does affects absolutely everyone.

[aknowledgeableperson]

As for the snow budget, I don't know why the City doesn't allocate enough money in the budget EVERY year to clear the streets during a "bad" winter--even when we don't end up having a lot of snow. The City should assume that every winter will be a bad winter.

When the city's budget is so far out of whack that it has to cut $60M in order to get it to balance it becomes very hard to budget snow removal at a level it should be at.  To do it do you close a fire station or two or three?  Whack a few police officers?
For some years in the past there wasn't even a budget amount for snow removal.  Money was taken from fund balance or taken from other operations during the year.  So at least having a budget is a step in the right direction.

[dangerboy]

As for the snow budget, I don't know why the City doesn't allocate enough money in the budget EVERY year to clear the streets during a "bad" winter--even when we don't end up having a lot of snow. The City should assume that every winter will be a bad winter.

Ever heard of the recession?  Nothing was spared budget cuts this year, including snow removal.  It was down $1 million including the private contractors for residential streets.  Something like 15-20% of Public Works employees were laid off, the very folks who drive snow plows in winter.

It's also hard to carry a large snow budget every year, because the public is very shortsighted.  After just a couple of mild winters people start complaining that too much is budgeted for snow removal and not some other need.

[chrizow]

no problem getting around in our area, though we live about 50 feet from a major road (gillham) that has been cleared pretty quickly throughout this ordeal.  

i've actually been pretty impressed with the snow clearance that i've seen.  unlike past years, i didn't have any near-accidents.

i spoke too soon.  on friday at about 5:15pm, i cautiously made my way down broadway in the 1600-1700 blocks, which was a solid sheet of ice.  cars were sliding around everywhere.  i lost control of my car and began careening towards an accident scene with cops, etc.  ended up spinning out and crashing big time into a huge snow bank, where i bent up my fender and front end and was stuck.  it took AAA four hours to come wench me out.  sucked.   while i was stuck there, i saw four different car accidents as well as three more people who slid off the road like i did.  after about two hours, KCPD showed up with flares and had a salt/sand truck go over the area three times.  

outrage.

[im2kull]

Normally, the city's strategy of waiting for the snow to melt works well, as snow rarely lasts longer than a day or two here, but man, this is crazy.

I agree, not a single plow has touched my street...and I'm referencing from now all the way back to the day before Christmas.  Not a single one...and this IS a street that is usually cleared by KCMO the day after snowfall.

Now this is what really perlexes me..

First off, who plows interstates..the federal interstates that is, I'm talking I35, I70, I, I, I, Etc.  MoDot??  What about state highways, Modot?  So what's the city's job...side streets? Main streets?  Streets of any sort?

So with that in mind, how the hell have we exceeded our snow budget this year, by a half million dollars, when ZERO plowing had been done by the city...and ZERO salt & sand had been laid (As we know, they didn't put down salt..for it has no effects in this cold of weather).  Now sure, today and yesterday they started doing this...but I'm talking about all the reports from like 3-5 days ago talking about how we had exceeded our budget.  How the hell do we do that when there's practically no plowing occuring.  Are we paying these fools to clock in and sit around bullshitting all day?  Whats the deal?  Did we plan for NO snow this year?

Surely I'm not the only one who's noticed this and thought it was a bit odd with the underwhelming amount of snow removal that has actually occured.

[aknowledgeableperson]

First off, who plows interstates..the federal interstates that is, I'm talking I35, I70, I, I, I, Etc.  MoDot??  What about state highways, Modot?  So what's the city's job...side streets? Main streets?  Streets of any sort?

Main, Broadway, Troost, North Oak, Vivion, Holmes, Linwood, 75th, Wornall, and so on.

[WSPanic]

So with that in mind, how the hell have we exceeded our snow budget this year, by a half million dollars, when ZERO plowing had been done by the city...

They've cleared plenty of major streets. Many times. And a lot of secondary streets.

[kcjak]

They've cleared plenty of major streets. Many times. And a lot of secondary streets.

And don't the plowers get paid more (a LOT more) on holidays?  Working on Christmas may have taken a big chunk of the budgeted money.

On a side note, a lady a block over from me (around 39th/Roanoke) complained to me about her street not getting plowed. I was walking in the unplowed street since the sidewalk hadn't been shoveled.  I told her it's ridiculous to expect someone to plow the street when property owners don't even spend the time to shovel their sidewalks.

[WSPanic]

I told her it's ridiculous to expect someone to plow the street when property owners don't even spend the time to shovel their sidewalks.

Lawrence is issuing tickets for non-shovelers. A lot of home owners are pissed. Their rationale being - why should I shovel my sidewalk when the city isn't even shoveling the streets? Kind of a "do as I say, not as I do" kind of vibe to it.

[scooterj]

They've cleared plenty of major streets. Many times. And a lot of secondary streets.

Today's actually the first time in 18 days that I haven't seen a plow working on a KCMO street.   They've been plowing like crazy.