KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Thursday's morning commute was a mess for many drivers as they navigated unexpected snowfall.
KSHB 41 meteorologists predicted accumulations ranging from 1-3 inches across the Kansas City-area late Wednesday night.
Road crews with various communities said the snowfall was surprising for some.
"Obviously with the amount of snow and how heavy it fell, yes they were very surprised," said Nick Arena, with the City of Lenexa.
It was the same story in Overland Park.
“It certainly surprised me a little bit, but fortunately we have snow crews that are really on top of it," said Meg Ralph, with the City of Overland Park.
"We knew there was a chance and it happened," said Dave Reno with the Unified Government of Wyandotte County.
Officials with Lenexa, Overland Park and Kansas City, Kansas, said their road crews were monitoring the roads 24/7.
"Our crews are really good at making sure we’re covered, but we’re not doing too much," Ralph said. "So, they had a crew overnight, brought them in when they started to see that more snow was coming and brought in the full force of the crew by around 4 o’clock this morning."
Reno explained how the county approached the storm.
“We sent everybody home at their normal times," he said. "Monitor through the night. Conditions changed; whole crew comes in."
Warm temperatures melted much of the snow, but officials said they'll be ready in case wet roads freeze.
“Today the snow crews have been out, and they’ve treated all routes with salt," Reno said. "Thankfully, the temperatures at not going to drop too much, but it’s still enough to freeze so overnight tonight, we’re going to have another crew in and they’re going to go out and touch up things as needed just to make sure conditions for tomorrows commute are safe as possible.”
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