The freezing rain that was falling in Lawrence Tuesday evening has already brought about some school cancellations, including Kansas University and Lawrence public schools.
"They decided to cancel it tonight to give people as much advance notice as they could," Julie Boyle, the Lawrence public school district's communication director said about 8:50 p.m. Tuesday.
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Boyle said the decision was reached after the superintendent and the school district's director of transportation, safety and facilities drove the roads and found that they had already become dangerous and the forecast indicated conditions wouldn't improve overnight.
Kansas University has cancelled classes for Wednesday. KU staff will have an extra hour to get to work.
Other schools that have already decided to cancel classes Wednesday are Bishop Seabury Academy, Veritas Christian School, First Presbyterian Preschool, Raintree Montessori School, in Lawrence, and public school districts in Eudora, DeSoto, Baldwin, Wellsville, Ottawa, West Franklin, Perry-Lecompton, Oskaloosa and McLouth.
"The roads are getting pretty nasty across the Lawrence area," Doug Heady, 6News meteorologist, said in his 10 p.m. forecast. ". . . The roads are going to be a mess for the next 24 to 36 hours."
Sunflower Broadband's Channel 6News will continue to post cancellation notices on Channel 6 Tuesday. And plans to report any cancellations for local schools as soon as the information becomes available around 6 a.m. Wednesday.
Cody Howard, 6News director, said school cancellation information will be updated regularly on Channel 6 with a crawl at the bottom of the screen and with break-in news and weather reports.
"We hope to have live updates with weather and from the News Center starting at 6 a.m.," Howard said. "We'll do those every half hour."
This Web site, www.ljworld.com, will also post information as soon as it becomes available on Wednesday morning from area schools.
The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for the rest of Tuesday, with occasional freezing rain and sleet, with ice accumulations around one-fourth of an inch through Wednesday morning, followed by snow Wednesday afternoon, possibly heavy at times.
Street maintenance crews from the Lawrence Public Works Department have shifted gears to prepare for 24-hour snow and ice control operations.
Crews have split into shifts with the first shift on duty Tuesday morning and the next shift beginning at noon, with crews rotating every 12 hours .
The plow equipment and spreaders are prepared and ready to hit the streets. Arrangements have also been made to have mechanics included on the rotating shifts to support the operation.
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