Snow, frigid temperatures create many problems

Frigid temperatures and snow over the past two weeks have impacted the lives of north central Kansas residents in many ways.
Businesses have been closed, schools have been closed, activities have been postponed or cancelled, city crews have been handling snow removal and dealing with water main breaks.
The Concordia area is getting a brief break from the arctic air today with temperatures climbing to near 30 degrees.
Cold air returns on Thursday with a high near 20 and then a low around -1 with wind chill values between -7 and -17.
The high is only expected to reach 11 on Friday with a low around -14.
Warmer air is expected to move into the area heading into next week with a high of 33 on Sunday and then 40 on Monday.
City of Concordia employees have been busy the past two weeks clearing snow off of the streets.
On Wednesday morning, with wind chill values at around -25, city workers were dealing with five water main breaks.
As of 10 a.m. Wednesday, city workers had been working on repairing water main breaks for 28 straight hours.
"Those guys are rock stars, they are super heroes and they are very tough," Concordia city manager Amy Lange said of the city employees repairing the water main breaks.
Four of the five main breaks happened within five hours.
The city crews have also spent many hours removing snow.
"It came in so many waves, so quickly," Lange said of the snow. "The first wave that came, we were able to clear the snow fairly quickly. Having the sunshine melt it a little bit did help in us being able to dig down and clear those streets a little better."
All but one of the blades on the city trucks are gravity blades.
The city does have one hydraulic blade like those used by the Kansas Department of Transportation (KODT).
The hydraulic blades are able to push down and dig the snow off of the roads, while the gravity blades can only get what is loose on top.
"So that is why we typically leave a little on the bottom.”
A second round of snow came a few days later as the arctic air pushed in, dropping the temperatures to below zero.
"That made it more difficult to clear the snow," Lange said.
The city spreads a dry salt and sand mixture on the streets. It requires some sunshine, temperatures of about 20 degrees and traffic to be effective.
"So the low temps and lack of sunshine have made our salt mixture not be as effective," Lange said.
KDOT puts down a liquid solution prior to inclement weather so the moisture doesn't stick and then spreads more after the moisture has stopped.
"That seems to work a lot better in colder temperatures. I would love to get there, we are just not set up for that equipment yet," Lange said.
The snow and cold have led to school closures and late starts.
As of Tuesday, students in Concordia Unified School District 333 had missed about four and a half days of school because of the weather.
USD 333 had a two-hour late start on Wednesday because of the water main break on Republican Street.
Superintendent of Schools Quentin Breese said that about 14 days are built into the school schedule to offset events such as snow days, early dismissal for homecoming and junior high league wrestling, the use of the Concordia Elementary School gymnasium as a polling place on election day, etc.
"It is pretty consistent that we do that just to have a little bit of a buffer in there," Breese said.
Breese said that the district still has eight days of buffer for most students and four days for the high school seniors.
The seniors generally get out of school a week before the other students.
With plenty more winter ahead, there is the possibility of more school cancellations.
"If it is a really bad situation then we could end up going a couple of extra days, but I think we could probably manipulate it with hours if we get to that point. Right now, we are probably sitting okay," Breese said.
The district could use the parent/teacher conference day as a half day if needed. It could also use the scheduled professional development days that are built into the schedule for student contact days or it could add some minutes onto each day.
The weather has forced the postponement or cancellation of several USD 333 athletic events and activities.
The Concordia High School boys' and girls' basketball teams have not played since January 2. They have had games against Wamego, Marysville and Chapman postponed.
Concordia will now play Marysville on February 1, Chapman on February 19 and Wamego on February 22.
The Concordia boys were scheduled to play Halstead in the opening round of the Adolph Rupp Invitational. That game has been rescheduled for 8 p.m. Thursday.
Two high school junior varsity wrestling tournaments were cancelled.
The Concordia Junior-High School boys' basketball team have had two games cancelled and the Concordia Junior-High School girls' wrestling team has had two tournaments cancelled.
The Concordia Scholars Bowl team had an event at Wamego postponed twice.
Because of cold weather returning, the Concordia High School drama department's production of "Harvey" has been rescheduled for January 26-27.