With the first winter storm of 2025 in the forecast, electric utility Evergy is advising customers that it could take days to restore power if there are outages.
As of Friday afternoon, the National Weather Service office in Topeka had a winter storm warning in effect from 9 a.m. Saturday to midnight Sunday night.
“Heavy mixed precipitation expected,” the NWS warning said. “Total snow accumulations between 8 and 12 inches, sleet accumulations around one quarter of an inch, and ice accumulations up to two tenths of an inch. Winds gusting as high as 45 mph.”
The NWS added that “strong wind and the weight of snow and ice on tree limbs may down power lines and could cause sporadic power outages.”
Evergy, which provides electricity to much of the eastern half of Kansas, as well as parts of western Missouri, has mobilized nearly 1,000 line and vegetation contractors to join Evergy crews “to get power back on as safely and efficiently as possible.”
“Evergy is planning and preparing for a potential multi-day effort to restore power,” the company said in a Friday afternoon news release, adding that “the impact of the winter storm on power outages will depend on the weather conditions.”